Govt to rethink farm health and safety rules with practical reforms
Farmers are welcoming new Government proposals to make farm health and safety rules more practical and grounded in real-world farming.
A mate of the Hound’s, recently back home in Wakefield, Nelson following a month in Christchurch for medical treatment, reckons health and safety, ACC and other rules being imposed on farmers are ridiculous compared to other risky sectors.
A month in the big smoke exposed our man from Wakefield to hundreds of people indulging in the latest craze to hit our cities – Lime scooters.
He reports that he saw none of these scooter riders wearing helmets, and more often than not two people were hanging off one scooter, weaving in and out of traffic on footpaths or broken roads damaged by the earthquakes.
As he rightly pointed out to yours truly, “One has to question how much in ACC or WorksafeNZ fees the scooter operators are paying and what, so far, are the mounting costs of scooter accidents NZ-wide.”
Virtual fencing and herding systems supplier, Halter is welcoming a decision by the Victorian Government to allow farmers in the state to use the technology.
DairyNZ’s latest Econ Tracker update shows most farms will still finish the season in a positive position, although the gap has narrowed compared with early season expectations.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.
Farmers appear to be cautiously welcoming the Government’s plan to reform local government, according to Ag First chief executive, James Allen.
The Fonterra divestment capital return should provide “a tailwind to GDP growth” next year, according to a new ANZ NZ report, but it’s not “manna from heaven” for the economy.
Fonterra's Eltham site in Taranaki is stepping up its global impact with an upgrade to its processed cheese production lines, boosting capacity to meet growing international demand.

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