increase font size
OPINION: Your old mate is cynical about the real motives of many who push the latest fad in farming, regenerative agriculture.
Several groups - as well as a fair few government-funded bodies - seem to be cashing in on the regen bandwagon.
One is a group called 'Calm the Farm' - a self-described investment service that aims to "help" conventional farmers to convert to regenerative agriculture.
Its founders are Nathalie Whitaker of Give A Little, data analytics expert Mike Taitoko and physicist Shaun Hendy.
If that last name rings a bell, that's because it is the the same Shaun Hendy from the University of Auckland's Te Punaha Matatini (TPM), the Government's favoured 'Covid modelling' outfit.
It seems Hendy is not content with just clipping the ticket on Covid, to the tune of more than $6 million for Covid-19 modelling from TPM, but is now also keen to cash in on the regen ag fad as well!
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
An early adopter of a 10-in-7 variable milking regime, the Lincoln University Demonstration Dairy Farm (LUDF) is tweaking the system this season in search of further boosting farm performance and profitability.
The dairy sector is in a relatively stable position, with strong milk price payout forecasts continuing to offset ongoing high farm costs, according to DairyNZ.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Fonterra has delivered a fifth straight year of record organic milk price for farmer suppliers.
Fonterra says favourable weather conditions supporting pasture growth is boosting milk production.
OPINION: If the comments about the deceased Tom Phillips posted on social media by keyboard warriors were representative of parenting…
OPINION: This old mutt is loath to sound like Groundswell has been topping up his bowl with brisket off-cuts, but…
