Risky business
OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.
OPINION: Fed up with the appalling decision making over successive governents that has left us with third-world infrastructure? You're not alone.
Ferries, roads, power lines, water pipes - you name it, it's a basket case.
Some have suggested it's time to take decisions about these vital projects off the barely-competent, short-term thinkers, otherwise known as politicians, and put them in the hands of actual experts.
It would still need oversight on behalf of those paying the bills (taxpayers), but it's hard to argue against an enduring framework that might end the stop-start cycle that every change in government drives.
If we don't take ideology and politics out of it, we'll never climb out of the (hell) hole the politicians have left our infrastructure in.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Buoyed by strong forecasts for milk prices and a renewed demand for dairy assets, the South Island rural real estate market has begun the year with positive momentum, according to Colliers.
The six young cattle breeders participating in the inaugural Holstein Friesian NZ young breeder development programme have completed their first event of the year.
New Zealand feed producers are being encouraged to boost staff training to maintain efficiency and product quality.
OPINION: The world is bracing for a trade war between the two biggest economies.