NZ business leaders urge US to review tariffs
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
NZ International Business Forum executive director Stephen Jacobi says the present FTA negotiations with the UK is depressing, with the same old roadblocks being put up against NZ as they were some 40 years ago.
He says the UK's agricultural sector has been mollycoddled by the EU's Common Agriculture Policy.
However, Jacobi says the UK is slightly different now because of Brexit and they want to be seen as a global Britain. But he ads they need to walk the talk about agriculture and trade liberalisation. He says the fact that Britain has negotiated an FTA with Australia is an encouraging sign that they may break out of the protectionist mould.
As for Europe, Jacobi says it's a case of the same old same as, the only difference being they have moved away from direct support for production.
"But they haven't got a market-oriented system for agriculture and it's still a highly regulated system where the market signals are all obscured," he says.
Jacobi hopes that issues raised in a recent discussion paper will stimulate conversations in the business community and government to find new ways to improved access for NZ products to overseas markets.
Federated Farmers says almost 2000 farmers have signed a petition launched this month to urge the Government to step in and provide certainty while the badly broken resource consent system is fixed.
Zespri’s counter-seasonal Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) programme is underway with approximately 33 million trays, or 118,800 tonnes, expected this year from orchards throughout France, Italy, Greece, Korea, and Japan.
Animal owners can help protect life-saving antibiotics from resistant bacteria by keeping their animals healthy, says the New Zealand Veterinary Association.
According to analysis by the Meat Industry Association (MIA), New Zealand red meat exports reached $827 million in October, a 27% increase on the same period last year.
The black and white coat of Holstein- Friesian cows is globally recognised as a symbol of dairy farming and a defining trait of domestic cattle. But until recently, scientists didn’t know which genes were responsible for the Holstein’s spots.
According to the New Zealand Dairy Statistics 2024/25 report, New Zealand dairy farmers are achieving more with fewer cows.

OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer…
OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at…