Why Now Is the Time to Plan Farm Succession, Findex Says
OPINION: Succession and long-term planning are perennial topics because it is perpetually sidelined on busy farms.
This old mutt's colleagues at Rural News recently received a curt and nasty email from one Briar Smith about the less-than-complimentary review this publication gave Mike Joy's latest book about water quality.
Despite hiding behind an anonymous email address, it turns out that Smith happens to be a colleague of Joy at Massey University and – just like the Joyless one – a professional student who to the Hound's knowledge has never had a real job. Your canine crusader finds it amusing that so-called fearless academics like Joy and Smith are all for the freedom that enables them to make sweeping criticisms, but get outraged when someone dares criticises their work. Must be such a tough life living in their ivory towers – poor wee sensitive sausages.
LIC shareholders have elected a new North Island representative to the co-operative's Board, along with five representatives to its Shareholder Reference Group (SRG), following the company's Annual Meeting held in Invercargill.
Farmers across parts of Southland and South Otago are continuing to deal with difficult conditions after a prolonged run of wet weather, with pressure building around feed supply, stock management, pasture damage, farm infrastructure and everyday workloads.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes Labour's commitment to reviewing the Sharemilking Agreements Act, calling on other major parties to do the same.
For Canterbury dairy farmers Sian Meijer and Rick Wobben, wearable technology has become one of their most valuable on-farm tools - helping manage 1850 cows across an expansive, high-performing dairy operation while improving efficiency, mating outcomes and day-to-day decision making.
Fonterra has unveiled its annual results for the 2026 financial year, posting $27 billion in revenue and close to $20 billion returned to New Zealand farmer owners and unit holders.
The first major update to the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare in more than a decade has been released, marking what DairyNZ describes as an important step in ensuring animal welfare standards continue to evolve alongside scientific evidence and on-farm realities.

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