Concerns mount over US-China trade spat
New Zealand trade officials are watching the escalating trade war between the US and China with mounting concern and anxiety.
A US farmer has been awarded US$265m (NZ$411m) in a lawsuit against herbicide providers Bayer and BASF.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a Missouri jury handed $15 million in actual and $250 million in punitive damages to the state’s largest peach grower, Bill Bader.
Bader sued Bayer and BASF after claiming his 1,000-acre orchard had been harmed by the companies’ herbicide that had drifted onto his tress from neighbouring farms in 2015 and 2016.
Bader sued the companies, claiming they encourage farmers to spray their dicamba-based herbicides irresponsibly.
The trial lasted three weeks and is the first case in the United States to make a ruling on the use of dicamba-based herbicides.
US farmers have alleged that dicamba-based herbicides can become vapour in some weather conditions.
They claim the vapour drifting across large distances has caused damage to tens of thousands of acres of cropland.
Bayer says it plans to appeal the verdict, whereas BASF is still to decide its next steps.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.