Move over ham, here comes lamb
It’s official, lamb will take centre stage on Kiwi Christmas tables this year.
MEAT COMPANIES that supply supermarkets and sell New Zealand lamb as a loss leader in the United Kingdom should lose their access to this valuable quota market, says Labour's Primary Industries spokesperson Damien O'Connor.
"Our reputation as a Lamb producer must be hurt by today's reports that Welsh farmers are protesting outside British supermarkets where New Zealand lamb is being sold at what those farmers claim are artificially low prices," says O'Connor.
"Those prices are in turn reducing the price of British lamb at the height of the northern hemisphere season.
"Such action by supermarkets destroys the value and the image of New Zealand lamb as a premium product grown and processed to the highest international standards of food production.
"Any loss leader action undermines New Zealand's brand. New Zealand farmers will be horrified to think their quality lamb products are being misused by UK supermarket chains. The value of their lamb is being missed as well as that of Welsh farmers.
"I have sympathy for New Zealand and Welsh farmers, all who should receive more for their lamb rather than see their product sold for a song by UK supermarket chains battling for market share," O'Connor says.
New Zealand's diverse cheesemaking talent shone brightly last night as the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) crowned the champions of the 2026 New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Tracing has indicated that the source of the first velvetleaf find of the 2025-26 crop season, in Auckland, was likely maize purchased in the Waikato region.
Fish & Game New Zealand has announced its election priorities in its Manifesto 2026.
With the forage maize harvest started in Northland and the Waikato, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is telling growers of later crops, or those further south, to start checking their maize crop maturity about three weeks prior to when they think they will start silage harvesting.
Irrigation NZ is warning that the government's Resource Management Act (RMA) reform risks falling short of its objectives unless water use for food production and water storage infrastructure are clearly recognised in the goals at the top of the new system.
More than five million trays, or 18,000 tonnes, of Zespri’s RubyRed Kiwifruit will soon be available for consumers across 16 markets this season.

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