Overbearing?
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the job description of PR is to grease the wheels and ensure clients get good media coverage.
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!
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.