Risky business
OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.
OPINION: At a recent speaking engagement, Brendan Lindsay, cashed-out founder of Sistema Plastics opined that in his experience “banks are real fair-weather friends”.
Maybe when you’re sitting on a $600 million pile, you can afford to risk upsetting the lending set, but more than a few farmers seem to agree with the sentiment.
In the latest Federated Farmers bank survey they added a new question: ‘Do you think New Zealand banks are presently demonstrating a positive commitment to support farming through difficult periods of high interest rates?’
Feds’ Richard McIntyre says it’s “incredibly disappointing” that only one in five farmers responded with a ‘yes’ to that question.
“At a time when farmers are really struggling, I would have hoped to see our banks stepping up to help, but instead they seem to be tightening the screws.”
After 20 years of milking cows, Northland farmer Greg Collins is ready to step into the governance side of dairy.
For some Canterbury teenagers, their career is being shaped by hands-on experience in a sector they are passionate about - dairy farming.
Dairy farmers will be paying a new levy rate of 4.5c/kgMS - an extra 0.9c/kgMS - to industry-good body DairyNZ from June 1 this year.
The 'atmospheric river' of rain that swept down the country last week almost completely avoided one of the worst drought-affected regions in the country – coastal Taranaki.
Much-needed rain finally arrived in Northland, giving many farmers breathing space to get themselves back on track for next season.
Despite the turmoil in global markets, Fonterra is continuing with a dual track process to divest its multi-billion dollars consumer businesses.