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OPINION: Following Beef + Lamb NZ's rather testy annual meeting - and the ousting of former chair Andrew Morrison - the organisation decided to go on a charm offensive in an effort to get farmers back onside.
It has run a number of farmer meetings around the country to get feedback on key issues - including the widely unpopular HWEN.
However, B+LNZ's new 'open and transparent' mode appears to be about as murky as Michael Wood's share portfolio, with media banned from attending the meetings.
B+LNZ claims banning media from the meetings would encourage farmers to be more 'open' about their concerns.
However, as one appalled farmer told yours truly, the ban made B+LNZ "more like the Freemasons by the day".
He believes the reason media attendance was thwarted was because it would have recorded and reported the real discussion.
OPINION: You're never as good as when you're dead, and with due respect to Theo Spierings' family, the Hound can't let the death of the former Fonterra CEO pass without mentioning the parlous state he left Fonterra in when he exited in 2018 - having pocketed well north of $30 million over seven years.
OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is now dead in the water.
OPINION: The Reserve Bank’s rate cut is great news, albeit a bit late, but your old mate agrees with Act leader David Seymour that the cut – with more to come – is a “multi-billion dollar mea culpa” by the RBNZ.
OPINION: While the Government’s Fast Track bill is copping it from all the usual suspects – opposition parties, greenies, unions and various other ‘interested parties’ who cream it in fees by forcing development through endless ‘consultation’ – your old mate reckons progress on key elements like housing, infrastructure, mining & quarrying, and aquaculture & farming are long overdue and critical in stopping the rot in little old Enzed.
OPINION: In a to the 1990s, our old mates at Greenpeace continued their crusade against affordable food by abseiling down the side of Fonterra’s Te Rapa factory and unfurling a big banner.
Can discarded beef skins become premium dog food? Would camel milk work for your morning flat white? These are just two of the questions that will be answered next week at an international conference in Palmerston North.
Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National Charity Auction.
The turmoil and challenges faced by the kiwifruit industry in the past 30 years were put to one side but not forgotten at a glitzy night for 400 kiwifruit growers and guests in Mt Maunganui recently.
The Government's passing of new freshwater management laws has been welcomed by farmers, but could cause some councils a headache.
Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Vanessa Winning is stepping down after four years in the role.
Free workshops focused on managing risk in sharefarming get underway this week.
OPINION: You're never as good as when you're dead, and with due respect to Theo Spierings' family, the Hound can't…
OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is…
