OPINION: The recent detection of Avian Influenza (AI), a low pathogenicity strain H7N6, at a free-range poultry farm in Otago has the agri sector focused on biosecurity. While the situation is cause for concern, the emphasis is on not panicking but remaining vigilant. The key message? Biosecurity is everyone’s responsibility.
OPINION: I trust all is well at your place. It's obvious the Christmas season is upon us, as I sit at my keyboard today. I'm looking forward to a bit of a breather and catching up with friends and family again.
OPINION: In two weeks we'll bid farewell to 2024. Dubbed by some as the toughest season in a generation, many farmers would be happy to put the year behind them.
OPINION: Before we all let The Green Party have at it with their 'bold' emissions reduction plan, the Hound thought it wise to run the numbers through the old Casio.
OPINION: The Feds' latest banking survey shows that bankers are even less popular with farmers than they used to be, despite falling interest rates, and the report still paints a damning picture of rural lending.
OPINION: Judith Collins, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, has upset the more woke members of the science community by announcing a regulation change to narrow the scope of the $83.5 million/year Marsden Fund.
OPINION: Kainga Ora's decision to categorically rule out use of woollen carpets in social housing is a total slap in the face for struggling Kiwi sheep farmers.
OPINION: Personal recommendations often appearing as testimonials, are not the same thing as scientific research.
OPINION: If you have kept your finger on the emissions pulse, none of the below information will be a surprise to you. However, if you are a farmer that has not been following New Zealand’s ruminant methane issue then you may be in for a nasty shock.
OPINION: Last week around 400 farmers turned up at Mystery Creek to hear Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speak as part of Federated Farmers’ ‘The Restoring Farmer Confidence Tour’.
OPINION: Soil is one of the most valuable assets that a farmer has. It is our collective responsibility to make use of soils without damaging either the soil or any other part of our environment, protecting them for our own use and use by future generations.
OPINION: One of the strongest arguments for Act’s Treaty Principles Bill is probably its opponents’ total inability to raise a calm, cogent retort to it, other than intimidation and shouting the other side into silence.
OPINION: Over the last two weeks we have seen a Bill pass through the house that removes the ETS backstop from agriculture emissions, and once again we heard some strange logic being presented.
OPINION: Landcorp is putting a brave face on its latest result, highlighting its progress on KPIs like climate change and gender pay gaps.
OPINION: The Hound awaits with baited breath Nicola Shadbolt's Methane Review Panel's findings this month on whether farmers will continue to be marched to the gallows by legislated methane reduction targets.
OPINION: The Hound hears that a slickly choreographed Silver Fern Farms roadshow went astray recently when faced with fired up farmer feedback in Kurow.
OPINION: Like many of you, I am familiar with the old adage "You are what you eat".
OPINION: The New Zealand red meat sector, with support from the Government, has upped the ante to retain and expand its niche in the valuable Chinese market - and the signs are looking positive.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of transparency by the Crown-owned entity - spurred by its refusal to release information under the OIA about its conduct around Cyclone Gabrielle and the Hawke's Bay flooding.
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the banking structure massively favours lending to housing, at the expense of the productive sectors, particularly agribusiness.
OPINION: Just as they did in 2016 when Trump beat Clinton, liberals in the media are crying "how did this happen?"
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:
OPINION: At the September Fonterra results meeting in Waihi, I raised concerns about the viability and risks of releasing GE in New Zealand.
OPINION: Before we all let The Green Party have at it with their 'bold' emissions reduction plan, the Hound thought…
OPINION: The Feds' latest banking survey shows that bankers are even less popular with farmers than they used to be,…
