Agriculture Minister Todd McClay.

OPINION: Farmers are rightly urging the Government to relax the rules around KiwiSaver and allow young farmers to use their savings towards purchasing either a house, cows or a farm.

Genuine Hipkins

OPINION: At the recent NZ Dairy Industry Awards, opposition leader Chris Hipkins made a surprise appearance.

Unserious greens

OPINION: The Greens aren't serious people when it comes to the economy, so let's not spend too much on their fiscal fantasies.

Double standards

OPINION: Imagine if the Hound had called the Minister of Finance the 'c-word' and accused her of "girl math".

Debt monster

OPINION: It's good news that Finance Minister Nicola Willis has slashed $1.1 billion from new spending, citing "a seismic global economic event" - Donald Trump's trade tariffs - and unsustainable debt, but with the Government reportedly borrowing $500 million a week, interest costs now exceed the combined budgets of Police, Corrections, Justice and Defence.

R.I.P. Sir Bob

OPINION: When news broke that Sir Bob Jones had died at age 85, the nightly news bulletins all led with the old footage of Sir Bob punching a reporter - the implication being that it was a terrible event in our history.

Can't help itself

OPINION: Greenpeace claims that the appointment of Dr John Roche as the PM's Chief Science Advisor is handing the powers to polluters.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters

OPINION: Foreign policy is a real strength of Winston Peter and this is recognised by Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials who, so the story goes, wanted him in his present role because of his experience in that field.

Science fiction

OPINION: Last week's announcement of Prime Minister’s new Science and Technology Advisory Council hasn’t gone down too well in the science community.

Bye bye Paris?

OPINION: At its recent annual general meeting, Federated Farmers’ Auckland province called for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

What's going on?

OPINION: On the 2nd of May, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced that the 'government remains on track to ban full farm-to-forestry conversion'.

OPINION: It's not happening as fast as the greenies would like - they actually want all livestock other than Muscovy ducks and Tibetan Llamas to disappear entirely - but it is happening.

OPINION: Dairy farmers are under increasing pressure to safeguard their livestock, equipment and operations from a range of security threats.

OPINION: When I left school in 1962, I worked on our family farm at Tikokino, but learning about farming wasn't a priority at the time because I had other distractions on my mind, such as fast cars and hot girls.

OPINION: The good fight against "banking wokery" continues with a draft bill to scrap the red tape forcing banks and financial institutions to make climate-related disclosures, by repealing Part 7A of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

OPINION: Despite the volatility created by the shoot-from-the-hip trade tariff 'stratefy' being deployed by the new state tenants in the White House, farm commodity prices are holding their own.

OPINION: You would've missed this one if you rely on mainstream media for your news, but your old mate reckons credit should go where credit's due: Emissions by dairy cattle decreased by 1.6% according to the latest NZ Greenhouse Gas Inventory report.

OPINION: With the Government applying some fiscal discipline to scientific research funding, this mutt thinks it might be timely to look at what's still being done in the ag-science space.

OPINION: The Government's announcement that it will create a new advanced technology public research organisation (PRO) is sparking conversations about what advanced technology means for New Zealand, and for the research and innovation needed to grow our economy.

OPINION: The Government's latest move to make freshwater farm plans more practical and affordable is welcome, and long overdue.

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Double standards

OPINION: Imagine if the Hound had called the Minister of Finance the 'c-word' and accused her of "girl math".

Debt monster

OPINION: It's good news that Finance Minister Nicola Willis has slashed $1.1 billion from new spending, citing "a seismic global…

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