NZ meat industry loses $1.5b annually to non-tariff barriers
Wouldn't it be great if the meat industry could get its hands on the $1.5 billion dollars it's missing out on because of non-tariff trade barriers (NTBs)?
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy is welcoming a new report showing a 40% growth in horticulture export earnings since 2014.
The strong results are highlighted in Horticulture New Zealand and the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority (HEA)’s report New Zealand Horticulture – Barriers to Our Export Trade which is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and NZ Fruitgrowers Charitable Trust.
“Horticulture is a star performer of the New Zealand economy with export revenue just under $5 billion, making it one of our most important industries,” says Guy.
“The report highlights that tariffs on exported produce have come down by 22% since 2012, which is good news but there is still more to be done. Reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers are a big priority for the Government.
“Horticulture has a goal of being a $10 billion industry by 2020 and they are well on the way. They are now New Zealand’s fourth largest export industry and employ 60,000 people in New Zealand.
“It’s very fitting for this report to be released on the day when Horticulture New Zealand is celebrating 100 years of representing growers, starting as the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation in 1916.
“This week we are also likely to see the Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill pass it’s final reading, providing a framework for producers and exporters to collaborate in export marketing their products.”
The executive summary of the report is available on the Horticulture Export Authority website.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…