Simon Upton urges cross-party consensus on New Zealand environmental goals
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton is calling for cross-party consensus on the country's overarching environmental goals.
OPINION: Your canine crusader finds it ironic that the pompously self-proclaimed ‘champion’ of the provinces and ‘first citizen’ of regional NZ, Shane Jones, is single handedly destroying the regions.
Jones’ obsession with trees is seeing vast swathes of good farmland around NZ being planted in forests and resulting in the loss of people, infrastructure, jobs and services in rural communities up and down the country.
While in opposition Jones and his political master Winston Peters railled against foreign ownership – especially of farmland and meat companies.
However, as soon as Jones and Co put Jacinda into power they outlawed foreigners buying houses and farms but made it easier for overseas interests to buy land for forestry.
Three New Zealand agritech companies are set to join forces to help unlock the full potential of technology.
As the sector heads into the traditional peak period for injuries and fatalities, farmers are being urged to "take a moment".
Federated Farmers says almost 2000 farmers have signed a petition launched this month to urge the Government to step in and provide certainty while the badly broken resource consent system is fixed.
Zespri’s counter-seasonal Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) programme is underway with approximately 33 million trays, or 118,800 tonnes, expected this year from orchards throughout France, Italy, Greece, Korea, and Japan.
Animal owners can help protect life-saving antibiotics from resistant bacteria by keeping their animals healthy, says the New Zealand Veterinary Association.
According to analysis by the Meat Industry Association (MIA), New Zealand red meat exports reached $827 million in October, a 27% increase on the same period last year.

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