Rural Communities Receive Wellbeing Boost
The Government has announced its support for 18 community-based initiatives through its Rural Wellbeing Fund.
Trade Minister Todd McClay will take the opportunity at this weekend's G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting in Shanghai to promote New Zealand's trade interests with the biggest economies in the world.
"New Zealand's invitation to be part of the G20 process demonstrates the mutually shared value of our relationship with China, and the standing which New Zealand has built up over decades as a proponent of an open world trade system," says McClay.
"We are grateful to China for the invitation and I look forward to meeting my counterparts from G20's host nation."
"It is also an opportunity to talk to representatives from the United Kingdom and the European Union about post-Brexit relationships as the implications of the UK's recent referendum vote to leave the European Union are being considered.
"I have already confirmed a meeting with the EU Trade Commissioner Cecelia Malmström and Lord Price, the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, to discuss the best way to protect and advance our trade interests with both parties.
"I look forward to frank and fruitful discussions with my international colleagues discussing a range of topics, including ways to achieve a successful outcome of the next WTO Ministerial meeting in 2017."
McClay will also travel to Beijing and Hangzhou for a series of meetings with New Zealand and Chinese businesses and investors. He will visit the Alibaba Headquarters in Hangzhou to discuss future cooperation with New Zealand exporters. This meeting will be an opportunity to build on the memorandum of understanding that was signed between New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Alibaba in April this year.
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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