Government aims to deliver city-level services to rural communities
The Government wants to make sure that rural communities get a level of service that people who live in cities often complacently expect.
The great Roundup debacle keeps on with the pro and con lobbies arguing for or against continued use of the herbicide.
Roundup has been sold for at least 40 years, and 6.1 billion kg of the chemical has been applied globally during the last decade alone.
In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation, re-classified glyphosate (the active ingredient) as a possible human carcinogen. This created a furore and demands for its banning.
By contrast, international regulatory authorities have given the product the ‘green light’ for continued supply; these include the EU’s Chemical Agency Committee for Risk assessment, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Locally, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Agency responded to a call by Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage to have the product listed as a dangerous substance: it pointed her to a study by toxicologist Dr Wayne Temple who said “the product is unlikely to be harmful to humans or genotoxic, i.e. damaging to genetic material or DNA”.
And recently, a San Francisco jury has re-kindled the debate with a judgement ordering Monsanto to pay US$289 million to former groundsman Dewayne Johnson, who claimed that prolonged exposure to the product had caused his incurable non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monsanto is trying to get this judgement overturned on the basis that scientific studies that helped the finding didn’t prove Roundup caused the cancer. The company claims the findings of the jury are at odds with over “40 years of real-world use of glyphosate-based herbicides”.
Business analysts in the US say the size of the award – US$39 million to Johnson to compensate for the cancer he contracted at the age of 42 and a UD$250 million punitive hit on Monsanto – was “so excessive that it shocks the conscience”.
Zespri says global sales for the 2024-25 season topped $5 billion on the back of strong demand and market returns.
Massey University is returning to the Fieldays with a future-focused, solution-driven theme, showcasing research that delivers practical advancements in agricultural efficiency, sustainability and longevity.
Newly appointed National Fieldays chief executive Richard Lindroos says his team is ready, excited and looking forward to delivering the four-day event next month.
More than 70 farmers from across the North and South Islands recently spent a dayand- a-half learning new business management and planning skills at Rabobank Ag Pathways Programmes held in Invercargill, Ashburton and Hawera.
Government ministers cannot miss the ‘SOS’ – save our sheep call - from New Zealand farmers.
A tax advisory specialist is hailing a 20% tax deduction to spur business asset purchases as a golden opportunity for agribusiness.
OPINION: The Hound hears that tension was in the air at the recent Silver Fern Farms AGM, with the board…
OPINION: The ongoing saga of the quality of school lunches continues.