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)?
National says the government has turned its back on the major agricultural training provider Taratahi.
The future of Taratahi remains in limbo after it went into interim liquidation just before Christmas at the request of its board of trustees.
MPs Paula Bennett and Nathan Guy say the government is bribing students into tertiary education through its fees-free scheme and yet is allowing this large training provider to fold.
Bennett says this will hit hard the 900 students and 250 staff who were due to start and run courses at Taratahi this summer.
“We believe Taratahi approached ministers for $4 million to keep it afloat, but this government has failed to support it. Taratahi needed just a fraction of the $2.8 billion fees-free bribe or the $3b Provincial Growth Fund and yet ministers couldn’t find the money to keep Taratahi training students while it worked through its issues,” she says.
National’s agriculture spokesperson Nathan Guy says the performance of the primary sector is critical to our economy, and that depends on having well qualified, motivated and high-quality workers.
“We hope Taratahi can be salvaged. The agricultural sector is dependent on farming graduates to serve the industry. Taratahi plays an important role in providing those graduates,” he says.
Many farmers around the country are taking advantage of the high dairy payout to get maximum production out of their cows.
In 2015, the signing of a joint venture between St Peter's School, Cambridge, and Lincoln University saw the start of an exciting new chapter for Owl Farm as the first demonstration dairy farm in the North Island. Ten years on, the joint venture is still going strong.
Sheep milk processor Maui Milk is on track to record average ewe production of 500 litres by 2030, says outgoing chief executive Greg Hamill.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton is calling for cross-party consensus on the country's overarching environmental goals.
Changes to New Zealand’s postal service has left rural communities disappointed.
Alliance is urging its farmer-shareholders to have their say on the proposed $250 million strategic investment partnership with Dawn Meats Group.
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