Editorial: RMA reforms uproar
OPINION: The euphoria over the Government’s two new bills to replace the broken Resource Management Act is over.
Not content with slapping extra costs on the country’s farmers in the form of an ETS tax, impossible targets to cut methane and impending charges to improve water quality, the Government now wants more.
These politcians want to bang an extra tax on the humble farm ute so they can subsidise the cost that wealthy, smug, urban flexitarians incur for their new electric cars.
Your old mate reckons Fed Farmers’ Andrew Hoggard summed it up nicely: “Taxes don’t cut it and farmers need practical solutions to live in a zero-carbon world.”
Hoggard also perfectly summarised the total impracticality of the Government’s EV policy in saying: “An EV may be ok to go to town for the groceries, but a Nissan Leaf isn’t ideally suited to towing a silage wagon or to cart a load of fenceposts around the farm.”
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
Expect greater collaboration between Massey University’s school of Agriculture and Environment and Ireland’s leading agriculture university, the University College of Dublin (UCD), in the future.
A partnership between Torere Macadamias Ltd and the Riddet Institute aims to unlock value from macadamia nuts while growing the next generation of Māori agribusiness researchers.
A new partnership between Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and NZAgbiz aims to make evidence-based calf rearing practices accessible to all farm teams.
Despite some trying circumstances recently, the cherry season looks set to emerge on top of things.
Changed logos on shirts otherwise it will be business as usual when Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses are expected to change hands next month.

OPINION: Here w go: the election date is set for November 7 and the politicians are out of the gate…
OPINION: ECan data was released a few days ago showing Canterbury farmers have made “giant strides on environmental performance”.