Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
OPINION: Dairy farmers are seemingly more upbeat than they were three months ago and there’s a good reason – the change in Government.
It seems the farmer-friendly Coalition – National, ACT and NZ First - is playing a big part in the positive mood of farmers; stabilisation of world dairy prices is also helping.
Issues causing concern for farmers include new freshwater regulations are being implemented by regional councils around the country and limit setting process. Some of these are unworkable for farmers.
They’d be hoping and waiting for some concrete steps by the Coalition in the coming months to allay fears in the rural sector.
There is a real hope that the incoming government with its strong agricultural understanding around the caucus table will help with that and sort it out.
Rural supply business PGG Wrightson Ltd has bought animal health products manufacturer Nexan Group for $20 million.
While Donald Trump seems to deliver a new tariff every few days, there seems to be an endless stream of leaders heading to the White House to negotiate reciprocal deals.
The challenges of high-performance sport and farming are not as dissimilar as they may first appear.
HortNZ's CEO, Kate Scott says they are starting to see the substantial cumulative effects on their members of the two disastrous flood events in the Nelson Tasman region.
In an ever-changing world, things never stay completely the same. Tropical jungles can turn into concrete ones criss-crossed by motorways, or shining cities collapse into ghost towns.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.