Jacqueline Rowarth

OPINION: The Financial Times, a major international newspaper, featured New Zealand on its front page at the beginning of June. It wasn't for the right reasons.

Overbearing?

OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the job description of PR is to grease the wheels and ensure clients get good media coverage.

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left them wishing they had kept their mouth firmly closed.

OPINION: Your old mate hears some of the recent uptick in farmer confidence has slipped since the political polls started leading a bit to the left, away from the current coalition of National, Act and NZ First.

Trust us!

OPINION: Ther'es a reason politicians rank even lower than John Campbell in the most trusted profession surveys.

ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson.

OPINION: Two years on from Cyclone Gabrielle, I've learned that while the power of Mother Nature is formidable, it is more than matched by the extraordinary capacity of locals to recover and rebuild.

Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard says there’s huge frustration from many about issues with local government.

OPINION: During my last recess break, I got around the country and met with many farmers and growers from Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Marlborough, and Canterbury.

Don't hold back!

OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding nothing back when ‘climate scientists’ had a crack at Kiwi farmers recently:

Helen Mandeno, dry stock farmer South Waikato.

OPINION: Soon New Zealand farmers will be asked to know their greenhouse gas (GHG) number. There are a vast number of GHG calculators available, all giving a different answer and none of them allowing for your pasture to be viewed as a CO2 ‘sequesterer’.

Arise Sir Paddy

OPINION: Missed out on a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours, again?

OPINION: The antipathy the previous government had for farmers no longer holds court on the Beehive’s 9th floor, but it’s still alive and well in some ivory towers, judging by a recent missive from the self-styled ‘Integrity Institute’.

OPINION: Beneath the routine of spraying crops lies a growing concern that has remained largely under the radar: the link between pesticide and herbicide exposure and Parkinson’s disease.

OPINION: One thing I keep hearing from rural New Zealanders is the importance of relationships. Strong relationships don’t just happen - they take trust, consistency, and time.

OPINION: The Greens aren’t serious people when it comes to the economy, so let’s not spend too much on their fiscal fantasies.

OPINION: The case of four Canterbury high country stations facing costly and complex consent hearing processes highlights the dilemma facing the farming sector as the country transitions into a replacement for the Resource Management Act (RMA).

OPINION: PM Chris Luxon is getting pinged lately for rolling out the old 'we're still a new government' line when challenged on a perceived lack of progress on various policy promises.

OPINION: The Hound hears that tension was in the air at the recent Silver Fern Farms AGM, with the board reportedly dazed and confused at why their CEO would continue to hammer farmers to lower their emissions in perpetuity, without being able to state a dollar value for any of…

OPINION: The ongoing saga of the quality of school lunches continues.

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The Hound

Overbearing?

OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…

Foot-in-mouth

OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…

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