Shanghai Pengxin's application to buy Lochinver Station has been declined because the benefits to New Zealand are not substantial and identifiable, Ministers Paula Bennett and Louise Upston say.

Silver Fern Farms' board plans a 50:50 partnership with China's leading meat processor Shanghai Maling, a listed company based in Shanghai, owned 38% by Bright Food Group.

It seems that farmer/shareholder ownership of primary sector entities is almost worshipped in some quarters.

Australian farmers are piling pressure on the Opposition Labour Party to support the proposed free trade with China.

Consolidation in the deer industry in the last five years means mainly the more committed farmers are left, which is good for the industry, says Kris Orange.

Sheepmeat returns are softening and one analyst believes it’s all down to one part of the animal.

When Chinese gooseberries were introduced into New Zealand in 1904 they were a novelty crop. Today kiwifruit is a billion-dollar export earner – and still rising, due, in part, to the work of plant breeders such as Dr Bryan Parkes.

Dairy farmers are welcoming the latest cut in the official cash rate.

The 2015 sheep and beef levy referendum has ended showing apathetic voter turnout – around the same number as last voted six years ago.

New Zealand is rapidly closing on filling its beef quota to the US for the first time since 2004.