Not bad
OPINION: New Zealand may be a minnow on the global stage but here’s another example how our ag sector punches above its weight.
Former US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack has been confirmed to take up to his old role as the head of the US Department of Agriculture.
Following a Senate vote last month, Vilsack returns to the job he held under the Obama administration in new President Joe Biden’s cabinet. His nomination met little resistance in the Senate, which only set aside 20 minutes for debate over his nomination.
While farm groups welcomed the nomination of Vilsack, Biden faces some political headwinds in the US farm sector.
In the first Farm Journal Pulse to gauge support for the Biden Administration, only 14% of the 1,459 farmers surveyed said they approve of the job done by the new administration.
Of those surveyed, 75% said they strongly disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as President.
At his confirmation hearing, Vilsack noted that while he is returning to his former job, the circumstances are very different.
Vilsack served as USDA Secretary for nearly the entirety of the Obama administration, from 2009 until 2017.
After leaving USDA, he was chief executive of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
Prior to his first stint as agriculture secretary, Vilsack was Governor of Iowa from 1999-2007.
Ravensdown South Island shareholders have voted Jane Smith to the co-operative board for a three-year term.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
Academic and former Fonterra director Nicola Shadbolt has been elected as LIC director.
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan has announced his plans to retire in June 2026, marking 43 years of service to the New Zealand wine industry.
It's 100 years for the Hoban family’s Parham Hill Corriedale stud and times continue to change.
Farmers want the Government to scrap controversial freshwater rules that "put river spirits and ideology ahead of practical water use", says Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper.
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