Green no more?
OPINION: Your old mate has long dismissed the Greens as wooden bicycle enthusiasts with their heads in the clouds, but it looks like the ‘new Greens’ may actually be hard-nosed pragmatists when it comes to following voters.
OPINION: Your old mate notes that Conservation Minister and Green MP Eugene Sage was waxing lyrically about the recent legal protection of 11,800 hectares of new conservation land in the Mackenzie Basin.
Sage dubbed it a collaborative initiative between the Crown, iwi and landholders.
However, your canine crusader notes that one of the two landowners who agreed to transfer around 5000 ha of his land to the public conservation estate is Simon’s Pass Station owner Murray Valentine.
This is the same Murray Valentine who the Greens – and other environmental fundamentalists – have lambasted, castigated and abused for converting some of his land to a dairy farm.
One wonders if Valentine did not now have his successful dairy operation, would he have been able to afford to make such a generous contribution to the national conservation estate?
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”.