Strange bedfellows
OPINION: Two types of grifters have used the sale of Fonterra's consumer brands as a platform to push their own agendas - under the guise of 'caring about the country'.
OPINION: The Hound sees Greenpeace is still demanding the demise of farming in this country.
It's now calling on the NZ Government to follow its Dutch counterpart and cull our country's livestock numbers by one third.
Greenpeace claims it would 'only' cost $12 billion to buy out what it describes as 'industrial' dairy farms.
This comes hot on the heels of a recent MPI report showing that the dairy and sheep & beef sectors alone will earn NZ well in excess of $30 billion next year.
So, going by this old mutt's back of the envelope calculation, Greenpeace's dream of killing 33% of NZ's livestock would cost a mere $22 billion in year 1 - in actual costs plus the lost export earnings - and at least $10 billion (and growing) every year after that!
How do these masterminds expect the country to pay its $100 billion of debt without every possible dollar of export revenue coming from our farming sector?
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
Expect greater collaboration between Massey University’s school of Agriculture and Environment and Ireland’s leading agriculture university, the University College of Dublin (UCD), in the future.
A partnership between Torere Macadamias Ltd and the Riddet Institute aims to unlock value from macadamia nuts while growing the next generation of Māori agribusiness researchers.
A new partnership between Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and NZAgbiz aims to make evidence-based calf rearing practices accessible to all farm teams.
Despite some trying circumstances recently, the cherry season looks set to emerge on top of things.
Changed logos on shirts otherwise it will be business as usual when Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses are expected to change hands next month.

OPINION: Here w go: the election date is set for November 7 and the politicians are out of the gate…
OPINION: ECan data was released a few days ago showing Canterbury farmers have made “giant strides on environmental performance”.