Make It Up!
PM Chris Luxon can't seem to buy a trick when it comes to the polls, particularly for his own approval rating as preferred Prime Minister.
Announcing the appointment before he departed New York for his inauguration in Washington, Trump said Perdue will do “great things” as his new agriculture chief.
“From growing up on a farm to being governor of a big agriculture state, he has spent his whole life understanding and solving the challenges our farmers face, and he is going to deliver big results for all Americans who earn their living off the land,” said Trump in a statement.
Perdue said in a statement he would “champion the concerns of American agriculture and work tirelessly to solve the issues facing our farm families in this new role.”
The 70-year-old Perdue, a veterinarian by training, has deep ties to agribusiness. That helped him win over Trump, but it could also pose potential conflicts as he seeks confirmation to lead the sprawling US$140 billion U.S. Department of Agriculture.
As governor, Perdue led the state through two recessions, providing a steady fiscal hand but infuriating fellow Republicans when he vetoed tax cuts. He also became immersed in a battle over whether the Confederate battle emblem should appear on the state flag.
But Perdue also brought a deep religious faith to the job: He resisted efforts to expand alcohol sales on Sunday, and when the state suffered a devastating drought, he led a vigil praying for rain.
Rural Contractors NZ says proposed changes to land transport rules for agricultural vehicles are a welcome response by the Government to out-of-date regulations which have seen members hit with huge fines.
With New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in the spotlight, Auckland scientist Nathan Balasingham says there’s a better way to tackle the problem than shrinking cow numbers or fertiliser usage.
Massey University vice chancellor Pierre Venter says his institute is moving from a period of austerity into a growth phase, based on their new strategy.
With the red meat sector going through a boom time with high prices, the time is right for the industry to step up its investment into developing new food products.
Meat Industry Association chief executive Nick Beeby says there’s now much closer cooperation between meat processing companies than there was many years ago.
Good news for Fonterra farmers. The co-op has raised this season’s farmgate milk price mid-point by 25c to $9.75/kgMS.

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