Govt to rethink farm health and safety rules with practical reforms
Farmers are welcoming new Government proposals to make farm health and safety rules more practical and grounded in real-world farming.
OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is growing and making up a disproportionate share of nonnegative workplace drug test results.
The proportion of meth detections has jumped since the start of the year January: 13.7%, February: 18.2% and March: 24.9%
The frontline data tells a confronting story; meth use is more than a big-city issue. The agency says it is seeing higher proportions of meth detections in smaller regions like the Central North, The Lakes and Taranaki.
However, there is no data break down for rural towns. The agency says the issue with getting any more specific with rural data is that it becomes identifiable. Everyone knows who’s testing, who isn’t and what companies they’re using to carry it out.
So, for the farming sector, the days of finding out the level of drug use in their local patch may still be a while away.
Fonterra has unveiled the first refrigerated electric truck to deliver dairy products across Auckland.
Research and healthcare initiatives, leadership and dedication to the sector have been recognised in the 2025 Horticulture Industry Awards.
Virtual fencing and pasture management company Halter says its NZ operations has delivered a profit of $2.8 million after exclusion of notional items.
Manuka honey trader Comvita slumped to a $104 million net loss last financial year, reflecting prolonged market disruption, oversupply and pricing volatility.
The Government has struck a deal with New Zealand's poultry industry, agreeing how they will jointly prepare for and respond to exotic poultry diseases, including any possible outbreak of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).
The conversion of productive farmland into trees has pretty much annihilated the wool industry.