Displaying items by tag: Federated Farmers

OPINION: Another hot topic at Mystery Creek was the intrigue over the upcoming election for the presidency of Federated Farmers.

The Government is looking at intervening on behalf of Waikato farmers who face new regulations around agricultural land use while Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms are underway.

Federated Farmers is urging the Government to put a halt to Waikato Regional Council's controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1), warning the regulations will impose significant costs, complexity and duplication on thousands of farmers while major national reforms remain unresolved.

Money invested to protect native bush, wetlands and other special habitats on farms is paying huge dividends.

There has been another twist to the Federated Farmers annual election fiasco.

With the general election just molnths away, farmers have launched a five-point plan for the next government.

In advance of the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis put a clear damper on expectations and delivered accordingly.

A potential showdown between the top two Federated Farmers leaders looms at the farmer lobby's annual meeting later this month.

OPINION: While we're on the topic of lumberjacks, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has no doubt used a chainsaw hundreds of times, but your old mate reckons he would’ve still been sweating on getting it right when cutting down a pine in front of the cameras, as he did above Queenstown during a recent pre-Budget announcement around extra funding for wilding pine control efforts.

Wilding pines are the wrong tree in the wrong place, and they need to go, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.