increase font size
OPINION: As your old mate - as well as many in the sector - expected, the Budget had nothing in it for the country's all-important primary sector.
As Federated Farmers curtly pointed out that it asked for "absolutely nothing in this year's Budget, and it's safe to say the Government have exceeded our expectations on that front with no new spending for farmers".
Feds' acting president Wayne Langford said farmers weren't looking for a handout and were happy to stand on their own two feet.
However, he pointed out that his organisation wanted the Government to stop weighing farmers down with impractical, unpragmatic, and unfair regulations.
"We're still waiting for them to deliver on that second request."
Langford added that farmers were having to tighten their belts, count every penny and live within their means, but - unfortunately - the Government wasn't doing the same.
Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers arable chair, Bevan Lill, said Beef + Lamb NZ data indicated that for the last six years, the average arable return on investment was about 0.8% while inflation ran about 4% - so the average arable farm was going backwards at about 3% a year.
For the first time in a quarter of a century, Federated Farmers has something positive to say about the Labour Party’s climate change policy leading into a general election.
Rural leader Mark Hooper has been appointed as an independent director to the NZPork board, bringing extensive farming, governance and advocacy experience to the role.
The terrible floods that hit the Wairarapa may have subsided, but the danger to farmers still exists, according to local Federated Farmers president Rob Hickson.
Will a stronger, more coordinated voice help rebuild confidence and improve returns in the wool sector?
New Zealand's citrus growers were challenged to build their future on the value embedded in their fruit rather than the volume they produce, at Citrus New Zealand's annual gathering in Gisborne on 17 September.
Leading John Deere technicians and apprentices from New Zealand and Australians were recognised at the recent sixth annual JD Technician of the Year Awards, held in Brisbane.
In Dacre, near Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island, Bruce Dinnington is running a dairy operation unlike any other.
A free online platform aggregating governance vacancies across rural and regional New Zealand has been launched.
Environment Minister Nicola Grigg has announced details of a new rural plastics recycling scheme.
Agricultural drone operators say that a government decision to allow lower-risk drone work without certification won’t lower standards but drive innovation and efficiency.
OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…
