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OPINION: This old mutt has been contacted by a number of members of rural insurer FMG expressing concern about the jump in director fees this year.
According to its latest annual report, the rural insurer made a profit of $59.3 million in the '20-'21 year and total director fees came to $438,000 with chair Tony Cleland pulling in an average stipend of $100k.
However, in the '21-'22 year, FMG's profit was down to $22.8 million, yet total director fees jumped to $557,000 - with the chair earning $113k.
FMG is a mutual and according to its own PR, 'it was set up in 1905 to give farmers a better deal...'
However, according to some disgruntled FMG members, the only ones who seem to be getting a better deal from the rural insurer are its well remunerated directors.
Maybe there'll be questions about this at its annual meeting later this month.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
Virtual fencing and herding systems supplier, Halter is welcoming a decision by the Victorian Government to allow farmers in the state to use the technology.
DairyNZ’s latest Econ Tracker update shows most farms will still finish the season in a positive position, although the gap has narrowed compared with early season expectations.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.
Farmers appear to be cautiously welcoming the Government’s plan to reform local government, according to Ag First chief executive, James Allen.
The Fonterra divestment capital return should provide “a tailwind to GDP growth” next year, according to a new ANZ NZ report, but it’s not “manna from heaven” for the economy.
Fonterra's Eltham site in Taranaki is stepping up its global impact with an upgrade to its processed cheese production lines, boosting capacity to meet growing international demand.
OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…
