OPINION: Every year, December 5 marks World Soil Day. This date wasn’t chosen at random, it’s the birthday of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, a passionate advocate for soil stewardship.
OPINION: Farmers, rural professionals and scientists were together last month in Hamilton, discussing hot topics for the land-based primary sector at the New Zealand Grassland Association (NZGA) conference.
OPINION: Among the many satisfying jobs on the farm is shifting our Angus heifers onto fresh pasture. They love it. Tails up, they gallop around for a minute, then it’s heads down — those long, raspy tongues pulling in mouthfuls of lush green feed.
OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable to the ridiculous, depending on what axe people had to grind.
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your old mate’s attention.
OPINION: This old mutt thinks New Zealand should take a bow after winning the ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at COP30 in Brazil over recent improvements to our methane targets.
OPINION: The Hound reckons the argument run by the ‘agribusiness elite’ that the market will punish our exports if we don’t fall into line with spurious targets like the Paris Accord doesn’t pass the sniff test.
OPINION: The latest reforms of local government should come as no surprise.
OPINION: What goes up must come down. So, global dairy prices retreating from lofty heights in recent months wouldn’t come as a surprise to many farmers.
OPINION: Dipping global dairy prices have already resulted in Irish farmers facing a price cut from processors.
OPINION: As the COP30 talkfest ended, claims are surfacing that the controversial Avenida Liberdade - a four-lane 13km highway which cuts across the Amazon - was constructed specifically for the climate summit.
OPINION: Milking It reckons New Zealand should take a bow after winning the 'Fossil of the Day' award at COP30 in Brazil over recent improvements to our methane targets.
OPINION: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
The end of the year is fast approaching, so here are some thoughts on a few of the significant developments during 2025 to wrap things up. Times are tough, of course, but there are some positive stories to think about, as well as the challenges.
OPINION: When I moved to Marlborough two decades ago, I found countless lines of tidy vines, neatly mowed and carefully sprayed, with diligent conventional practices interspersed with the odd organic or cover-cropping outlier, like Te Whare Ra.
OPINION: Eight point two billion people on the planet. Ten point three billion exported by 2084 (according to the latest United Nations' projections). And it is our role as farmers and growers in the food system to feed them. We need to do this as sustainably as possible, but the primary goal must be food production.
OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer shareholders as a 'short sighted sugar hit'.
OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at the expanse of food production, in this case - is that the Government starts throwing taxpayer coin at increasingly ridiculous ideas.
OPINION: In a memo, rich guy Bill Gates didn't become a climate change denier, but he did give the world a dose of common sense, saying we should redirect efforts away from the campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and instead focus on other ways to improve human lives and reduce suffering.
OPINION: Did the Prime Minister hint last week that the sale of Landcorp assets could be part of the manifesto for the next election?
OPINION: Farmers along the east coast of both islands are being urged to start planning for drought as recent nor'west winds have left soil moisture levels depleted.
OPINION: As negotiations advance on the India-New Zealand FTA, it’s important to remember the joint commitment made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the beginning of this process in March: for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial agreement.
OPINION: New Zealand dairy farmers are enjoying one of their most positive years in decades.
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OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
True agenda
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…
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