Be afraid
OPINION: Your old mate hears some of the recent uptick in farmer confidence has slipped since the political polls started leading a bit to the left, away from the current coalition of National, Act and NZ First.
While it's unlikely any research projects have been dreamed up as loopy as the 'whale song to cure kauri dieback' debacle, your old mate hears some farmers question whether research farms such as those run by various universities are operating in the real world.
Said farmers reckon they've stopped attending field days at these farms because they are promoting a low intensity farming scenario that is commercially unrealistic.
While the Hound is all in favour of keeping the research farms rolling, if our research farms are used for some sort of nirvana virtue signalling, they're simply not going to deliver value to farmers in the real world.
