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OPINION: Your old mate notes that Beef+Lamb NZ has very quietly decided to cut its losses and quit the lease on the North Canterbury-based hill country farm Lanercost.
"The Future Farm now sits outside our core business and while it is starting to generate a profit, it would require a lot more input and resources in the future to realise its full potential and really deliver for farmers as an extension tool," the farmer-funded levy claims.
BLNZ's 'softly-softly' decision to quit the 1,310ha property is a far cry from the exuberant and shout-from-the-roof-tops ways it announced its decision to lease the property back in 2018.
At that time, chief executive Sam McIvor told levypayer BLNZ was "putting your money where our mouth is", while chair Andrew Morrison said the organisation would be "judged on performance".
Apparently the judge's decision is in and it's a big, fat fail!
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
OPINION: Nothing it seems can be done in the short term to get Donald Trump to change his mind about removing the unfair 15% tariffs that he’s imposed on New Zealand exports to the US.
A charity that connects young people with farmers for two years of on-farm training is reporting 150 student applications for its 2026 intake.
It’s been a long time coming, but the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final is returning to the Naki for Season 58.
The Government has appointed three new members to the board of state farmer Landcorp Farming Ltd, trading as Pāmu.
North Canterbury pig farmer Steve Sterne has been honoured with NZ Pork's Outstanding Contribution Award, recognising his 27 years of dedication to excellence in the sector.
Hawke's Bay's loss is Canterbury's gain with the opening of a new state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory for the Ravensdown subsidiary ARL (Analytical Research Laboratories) at Rolleston.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is…
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle…
