HortNZ Welcomes $400 Million Boost for State Highway Resilience
Horticulture NZ says the funding boost to improve state highway resilience will support growers and strengthen the transport links they rely on to get produce to market.
New Zealand grows probably less than half a percent of the global food supply so everything we grow is artisan, says KPMG's global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot.
He had listed artisan as one of the global food trends in an address to the Horticulture NZ conference in Nelson.
"If we get our minds around the fact that we have artisan industry, even the Zespri kiwifruit industry on a global scale is an artisan industry; we can create value by telling our stories, by linking our stories to the consumer and adding something to their lifestyle."
Asked about how technology such as robotics can fit with an 'artisan story', Proudfoot said he thought the back story of our products was about the people who produce our products, how they apply innovation, how they apply science, how they ensure they have a complete holistic approach to the their farming systems, how they look after their staff, land and water.
"If robotics is part of the solution of enabling us to bring that together then I see it as being completely consistent with an artisan story," he said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the red meat sector is doing an excellent job promoting our pasture-fed system around the globe.
The European Union ramped up its presence at this year's Fieldays.
Moves are underway to create a single organisation to represent the country's beekeepers.
Against all the odds, the primary sector has turned in a stellar performance with export returns for 2026 hitting $64.3 billion - up 6% on the previous year.
Farmers and growers are powering the economy with export revenue at record highs.
Analysis of decades of research has revealed the implementation of good farming practices plays a critical role in reducing nutrient losses to improve freshwater outcomes.

OPINION: Well-known and politically very neutral RNZ DJ John Campbell may be having politically neutral kittens about the news that…
OPINION: This one will upset the identity-politics obsessed snowflakes in Wellington.