New Waikato medical school backed by rural sector
Rural health advocates say the Government's decision to establish a new medical school at the University of Waikato augurs well for the rural sector.
Food issues will be dissected in the final of the University of Waikato Winter Lecture Series this week.
In from paddock to plate, two academics and a long-time chef will look at different aspects of food production, how it impacts the regional economy and people's pockets.
Professor of Agribusiness Jacqueline Rowarth thinks we should be paying more for food.
"As they do in many other countries in hidden ways such as taxation, allowing farmers to invest in technology that improves productivity, efficiency and farm sustainability," she says.
Professor Darrin Hodgetts thinks people are paying enough for food already and that food as a human right is increasingly not being realised by a growing number of New Zealanders.
Chef David Kerr, currently unable to cook after breaking his arm in six places at Fieldays, says he feels more like a scientist than a chef these days as more and more of his diners have allergies or food intolerance of some kind or other.
The lecture is on Wednesday, August 29 at 6pm in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts.
Farmers have voted to continue the Milksolids Levy that funds DairyNZ.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell has resigned after eight years in the role.
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…
OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider…