Leah Prankerd: A passion for dairying and farmer support
It was love that first led Leah Prankerd to dairying.
OPINION: Your old mate wonders if the current chair of DairyNZ, Jim van der Poel, is the very same Jim van der Poel who is now canvassing to retain his directorship of the dairy industry-good body.
The Jim van der Poel on the electioneering trail says that farmers shouldn’t be taxed for methane emissions until it is proven that there is actually a problem.
Surely this can’t be the same Jim van der Poel – the methane messiah – who has been beating the He Waka eka Noa (HWEN) drum for the past 3 years and demanding that farmers sign on the dotted line and get with the HWEN programme or be thrown into the ETS fire of doom?
Dairy levy payers have until October 10 to cast their votes. Will they send a similar message – like their sheep and beef farming colleagues – who voted out their chair earlier this year?
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…