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OPINION: About as productive as a politician's taxpayer-funded trip to Hawaii, as cost-effective as an OSPRI IT project, and as smart as the power-company pylon worker, the Hound gives you the NZ Post business strategy:
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) National President, Fiona Gower and National Chair Penny Mudford OMNZ have arrived in New York to attend the United Nations’ 62nd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62).
Gower is representing RWNZ at CSW62 as a member of the Pacific Women's Watch (NZ) delegation and Ms Mudford is attending as the Civil Society Representative on the New Zealand Government Delegation.
“The priority theme for CSW62 is ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls so it is important we are there,” says President, Fiona Gower.
“RWNZ has taken the opportunity to share our stories with women from all around the world, gain knowledge and insights for our rural women from an international platform and get involved with ensuring that UN countries agree to do all they can to empower rural women and girls.
"We will be at various events throughout the two weeks including a side event at the UN which is co-sponsored by the New Zealand, Australian and Argentinian governments.
“RWNZ has organised a parallel event not far from the UN complex which includes women from around New Zealand sharing their experiences in business, governance and media.
“This is truly an outstanding opportunity for RWNZ to share the ingenuity, enterprise and empowerment we enjoy in New Zealand with rural women from around the world so they themselves are empowered – that’s quite special,” says Gower.
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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