It's all about economics
OPINION: According to media reports, the eye-watering price of butter has prompted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to ask for a 'please explain' from her former employer Fonterra.
OPINION: Will synthetic milk derail NZ's economy?
According to media reports, professor of econiomics at Auckland University of Technology, Niven Winchester, believes further development of synthetic milk could seriously disrupt the entire economy.
The scale of disruption though would vary, and there is slow progress at present towards making synthetic milk economic. Even so, dangers lie around the corner, according to Wichester.
"Large-scale production of synthetic dairy products - that decreases the price of New Zealand's largest export commodity - will have a significant negative impact on this economy," Winchester says.
This issue has arisen after years of analysis which argues that putting grass into a cow is wasteful because a lot of the output is diverted into growth of the animal. The claims is, putting a feedstock such as sugar into a test tube could produce milk which has less waste and lower environmental side effects.
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: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.
OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.