Fieldays calls for entries to 2026 Innovation Awards
Entries have opened for the 2026 Fieldays Innovation Awards.
OPINION: The inquiry into rural banking practice was welcomed at Fieldays, but Groundswell NZ added a proviso that this must include banks' treatment of agricultural emissions.
"Banks are becoming de facto enforcers of the same kinds of emissions policies that have been rejected by the voting public... banks are wanting farmers to comply with emissions policies based on outdated models".
It's a good point: problems with credit access may be caused by banks wanting to reduce the emissions disclosures in their lending portfolio reports, when the models they use don't reflect the developing science on agricultural emissions, and the Primary Production Committee's inquiry should include this in its remit.
Groundswell suggests you go to backoffbanks.nz and tell MPs to include emissions in their inquiry.
The man who organised a 57,000 signature petition to ban the export of live animals by sea from NZ says he's delighted that the Government has abandoned plans to reinstate the trade.
Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Will Foley says McCains plans to close its Hastings vegetable processing factory is a "tough pill to swallow" for the Hawke's Bay region.
New Zealand's largest medicinal cannabis operation is looking for contract growers to help meet surging international demand.
The proposed retrenchment of Heinz Wattied's manufacturing presenced in New Zealand will be a blow to the wallets of more than 200 Canterbury vegetable growers.
The cost of running a New Zealand farm is now 27% higher than it was before Covid, putting sustained pressure on profitability acrfoss the sector, according to new ANZ research.
An Ōpunake farmer with a poor effluent system has been fined $35,000 with a discount on the penalty discarded after he charged at a Taranaki Regional Council officer inspecting the ‘systematic problems’ on his farm.

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