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Rural professionals helping farmers, growers as digital connection grows

The Institute of Rural Professionals chief executive Jo Finer.

OPINION: The potential for technology to transform the way farms operate and perform in New Zealand and globally is immense and the agritech revolution is well underway.

Should Fonterra sell its consumer arm?

The need to own consumer businesses to move our milk no longer exists.

OPINION: As CEO of the Dairy Board in the 1980s I was fortunate to work with a team of experienced and capable executives who made most of the brand investments that created the international consumer business Fonterra inherited.

Narrowing agricultural pathways not a smart idea

Labour Party spokesperson for Rural Communities, Jo Luxton.

OPINION: Last week, Education Minister Erica Stanford sent a clear, but troubling message to New Zealand’s students: if you’re academically ambitious, agriculture might not be for you.

Gut feeling or common sense

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment suggests an integrated approach to environmental management - catchments rather than individual properties.

OPINION: Land use change is to the fore (again) because of headlines indicating the potential for growing rice, expansion of dairying in some regions, and ongoing concerns about carbon farming.

Zero, not hero

OPINION: If the comments about the deceased Tom Phillips posted on social media by keyboard warriors were representative of parenting standards in NZ, your old mate would be worried about our collective future.

Costs too high?

OPINION: This old mutt is loath to sound like Groundswell has been topping up his bowl with brisket off-cuts, but the ginger group makes a good point about the arguments raised in favour of toeing the Paris Agreement line.

Drop the Anchor!

OPINION: A few armchair experts have dumped on Fonterra’s $4.22b sale of its consumer business, but the more your old mate reads about it, the more it seems like a smart move.

Labour's pains

OPINION: After a run of bad polls and mixed economic news, PM Christopher Luxon was no doubt hoping for a bit of luck.

Editorial: New Treeland?

By all accounts many forestry owners go bush when it comes to paying for the damage and cost incurred on their pastoral neighbours.

OPINION: Forestry is not all bad and planting pine trees on land that is prone to erosion or in soils which cannot support livestock farming makes sense.

Paris Agreement - in or out?

Signs like these are being put up around the country by Groundswell.

OPINION: Defenders of New Zealand remaining bound to the Paris Agreement typically run the same argument. They do not explain the benefits of remaining bound to Paris, because there are none. At least none that are certain and enduring.

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Virtual fencing boosts grazing efficiency at Rotorua’s Stokman Angus

Mark Stokman (right) and his son Jake speaking at the field day on their farm.

Nestled in Waikite Valley in Rotorua, Stokman Angus is one of the first beef farms in New Zealand to try virtual fencing technology.

Massey study tests impact of solar panels on grass growth

Massey University scientist Dr Sam Wilson says the solar panel project’s focus is on pasture growth.

Many farmers have invested in solar energy for dairy sheds or houses, but little hard data exists on the viability of solar panels in open paddocks or the loss of drymatter this may cause. Massey University scientist Dr Sam Wilson is conducting research to get more information about this. Rural News reporter Peter Burke went to investigate.