Ballance Farm Environment Awards Launch on West Coast
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are coming to the West Coast of the South Island.
OPINION: This old mutt was interested to read a recent New York Times expose of the European Union’s agriculture subsidy programme.
The New York Times investigation of nine countries during much of 2019 uncovered a subsidy system that is deliberately opaque, grossly undermines the EU’s environmental goals and is warped by corruption and self-dealing.
Every year, the 28-country EU pays out $65 billion in farm subsidies intended to support farmers around Europe and keep rural communities alive. But across Hungary and much of central and eastern Europe the bulk of the cash goes to a connected and powerful few.
For example, the prime minister of the Czech Republic collected tens of millions of dollars in subsidies just last year.
And we think NZ will get a free trade deal with the EU. Ha ha!
Farmgate lamb prices are down by 8%, beef cattle by 4.5% and farm expenditure up by 4.2%.
Kiwifruit growers are watchful but remain optimistic as concerns around the potential effects of the El Niño weather pattern this season.
Almond hulls sourced from Australian orchards may have the potential to help New Zealand cows reduce emissions, boost milk yield and lower input costs.
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
Surprised, humbled and quite thrilled. That’s the reaction of James Allen, one of the founding partners and now chief executive of AgFirst, on being made a life member of the Institute of Rural Professionals.

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OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…