Thursday, 16 June 2016 08:14

Dairy dependency dwindles

Written by 

Finance Minister Bill English says it turns out that the country is not as dependent on the dairy industry as we thought.

"We certainly benefited from its strength through 2009-10 when the dairy industry helped pull the country out of recession ," he says.

"Now we see a whole range of industries where there size is such when they grow as they are, it is taking the whole national economy forward."

English made the comments while opening the 2016 National Fieldays.

English singled out the horticulture industry and the sheep and beef industry as doing well.

He says the economy has pretty strong prospects because "it turns out we have a well balanced export sector".

"Of course there are risks out there; on any given day we can worry about whether the Chinese credit bubble will burst or whether Britain will leave the EU.

"Both of these things look a bit more likely this week than they did last week."

More like this

Open Country opens butter plant

When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.

Featured

Mark Patterson Promotes NZ Wool at India's Bharat Textile Expo

Just a matter of hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic trip to New Zealand, the political doors in India swung wide open for Associate Minister of Agriculture, Mark Patterson, who was there to help promote our high-quality coarse wool.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

New Mates

OPINION: Proponents of regenerative agriculture tend to be naturally aligned with a 'green mindset', so they will be nonplussed with…

Levy Scrutiny

OPINION: Mike Chapman, former chief executive of levy-funded HortNZ, has thrown out a challenge to farmers and growers to put…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter