Diplomatic Incident
OPINION: Your old mate hears an international incident is threatening to blow up the long-standing Anzac alliance as Kiwis and Aussies argue over who wants new Australian resident and former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
OPINION: Meanwhile, your canine crusader is left a little bemused about all the crowing and cooing from the media and commentators about the “amazing diversity” of Ardern’s new Cabinet.
Much has been made about the high number of Maori, Pasifika, women, and gay members of the new line-up.
Really? Who actually gives a flying fig about what the ethnic, gender or sexual orientation of any member of the executive is?
Your old mate is far more concerned about whether or not a Cabinet Minister is actually capable and competent of the doing the job – rather than what boxes they may or may not tick in the census form.
Surely the ability of a person to successfully carry out the role is a far higher priority than who they may sleep with or who their grandparents were?
QU Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has issued a warning saying that global fertiliser scarcity caused by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower yields and tightening food supplies into 2027.
Federated Farmers is urging Canterbury's council leaders to move quickly on local government reform.
Having represented New Zealand at the 2024 and 2005 World Ploughing Championships, in Estonia and The Czech Republic respectively, Southland contractor Mark Dillon was at Methven last month for the NZ Ploughing Champs.
New research suggests sheep and beef farmers could improve both profitability and emissions efficiency by increasing lamb weaning weights, with only marginal changes in total greenhouse gas emissions.
With six months until the election, Federated Farmers says the Government is running out of time to deliver its long-promised reform to the country's freshwater system.
Herd improvement company LIC has entered the Indonesian market.

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