Why?
OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents a kilo between North and South Island producers – if you look at February 2024 steer prices.
OPINION: A mate of the Hound's recently pointed him to a podcast called The Detail, and a recent episode covering the emergence of rural ginger group Groundswell.
The supposedly independent taxpayer-funded podcast, interviewed a Wellington-based journalist all about Groundswell.
Said journalist pontificated on putting the boot into Groundswell - claiming the lobby only represented an "angry vocal minority that doesn't reflect what most farmers are thinking" and "the way they've carried on just does the sector an enormous disservice".
The podcast producers made a brief disclosure saying this journalist's husband "worked in the primary sector".
However, this 'disclosure' was not very 'full'.
In fact, said journalist's husband is in fact the highly-paid spin doctor for many of the established primary sector lobbies in Wellington, most of which has criticised and who are currently in a public dogfight with the rural lobby.
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.