Bikinis in cowshed
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
Post Covid, Ray Smith, director general of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), says there is a big opportunity to take our primary product to the rest of the world.
He says people trust our products and trust what we produce in NZ.
In our big sectors – meat and dairy – demand for our product continues to be strong and the diversification into a whole range of markets has really helped, Smith says. He also believes there are enormous opportunities in horticulture.
“Everyone I talk to in that industry wants to make greater investments,” he told Rural News.
“People are looking for land and investment opportunities to grow high value horticulture. We could see, across the next decade, new fruit varieties – such as dragon fruit – come along and a further push on avocados to get those fruit over the billion dollar mark.”
Smith says there is a tendency to underestimate the importance of biosecurity in our everyday practices on farm. He points out that much of NZ’s success on the trade side is due to the fact that we are free of pests and diseases and that gives us access to markets in countries which value this.
Also paramount on the trade front Smith says is sustainability. He says a strong commitment to this is critical if NZ is to negotiate good trade deals with places such as the EU.
“NZ’s sustainability story is very compelling to those countries in the European area who are also striving for the same thing. We have got a lot in common.”
North Otago farmer Jane Smith is standing for the Ravensdown South Island director seat.
"Unwelcome" is how the chief executive of the Horticulture Export Authority (HEA), Simon Hegarty, describes the 15% tariff that the US has imposed on primary exports to that country.
Fertiliser co-operative Ballance has written down $88 million - the full value of its Kapuni urea plant in Taranaki - from its balance sheet in the face of a looming gas shortage.
The Government and horticulture sector have unveiled a new roadmap with an aim to double horticulture farmgate returns by 2035.
Canterbury farmers and the Police Association say they are frustrated by proposed cuts to rural policing in the region.
The strain and pressure of weeks of repairing their flood-damaged properties is starting to tell on farmers and orchardists in the Tasman district.
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