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Forestry, slash and farming!

Dave Read says justification for planting farmland in trees is that it’s completely uneconomic from a farming perspective is wrong.

OPINION: Forestry Minister Stuart Nash recently chose Wairoa, one of the epicentres of conversion of farms to forests, to justify current policy and explain why an inquiry into forestry slash was not needed.

Farmer resilience will be tested

Hayden Dillion says NZ’s agriculture sector has significant headwinds to navigate in the year ahead.

OPINION: Perhaps Captain Bligh’s infamous line, “the beatings will continue until morale improves”, best summed up the mood of New Zealand’s weary agribusiness sector at Fieldays last year.

Editorial: Adapt and thrive

NZ's farming industry is not sitting back waiting for others to determine their fate.

OPINION: By the time Auckland mayor Wayne Brown made the symbolic act of declaring a ‘state of emergency’ during recent flooding, the actual emergency response – everyone from council and emergency services to citizens helping each other – had been underway for hours. Nobody was sitting on their hands waiting for a sign from on high.

Te hort?

OPINION: The Hound understands there has been quite a bit of unrest in the hort sector over the naming of a recent strategy, aimed at growing NZ hort export to $12b by 3035.

Tosser!

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands it is very early into 2023 but he may well have already found his ‘2023 Dick of the Year’.

Oh, really?

OPINION: Your old mate hears that recent claims made by Wairarapa MP and newly installed local government minister Kieran McAnulty that it’s too unsafe to hold and publicise mobile clinics around his electorate, may not be all the facts behind their demise.

Woke milk

OPINION: A mate of the Hound's reckons that while the princess of wokeness (former PM Ardern) may have left the building, the country's largest dairy co-op is fully ensconced with her style.

Sticky trans-Tasman battle

The trans-Tasman battle for naming rights for mānuka honey continues in the EU and UK markets.

The Trans-Tasman battle for naming rights for mānuka honey continues as - after an initial withdrawal - Kiwi honey advocates have filed for a replacement application in the UK and EU.

Summerfruit's mixed bag

Summerfruit NZ chief executive Kate Hellstrom says the weather has delivered different experiences to different regions.

The La Nina weather pattern has played a role in determining the fortunes of the summerfruit sector this season.

'Increase farmer support'

A flooded paddock in Elsthorpe, Central Hawke's Bay. Photo Credit: Bryan Lorenz.

As Cyclone Gabrielle makes its pathway across much of New Zealand, Act’s primary industries spokesperson Mark Cameron is calling on the government to increase its support to farmers facing significant animal welfare and financial problems.