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tate Highway 2 through the Waioweka Gorge from Gisborne to Opotiki has been closed and the road around the costs SH 35 is also being blocked. Photo Credit: New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi - Waikato & Bay of Plenty Facebook Page.
OPINION: The past few weeks have been tough on farms across the North Island: floods and storms have caused damage and disruption to families and businesses.
While most dairy farms were mostly spared, orchards and sheep and beef properties found themselves in the firing line.
A major issue, weeks on from the storms, is the condition of major roads in Northland, Hawke's Bay and parts of Bay of Plenty.
State Highway 2 through the Waioweka Gorge from Gisborne to Opotiki has been closed and the road around the costs SH 35 is also being blocked.
There aren't a lot of dairy farms in the region and those impacted by the road closures are being taken care of by Fonterra.
A silver lining for the dairy sector has been heavy rainfall, welcome by dairy farms that were starting to get dry.
It's now greened up, and the grass is growing, and farmers are relying less on supplements.
Post-storms, rural advisory groups coordinated well to build a clear picture of what was happening on the ground and ensure that information was shared where it needed to be.
According to Federated Farmers, we've come a long way in this space, including last year's progress on legislative reform to ensure rural people and businesses finally have an experienced voice in emergency management planning and response.
It notes that having at least one person with rural expertise on each of New Zealand's 16 regional Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) groups put farmers in a much stronger position for the future.
Rural communities have strong local networks, people and equipment ready to help. However, those resources are only effective if they're properly integrate into the formal emergency management system.
Federated Farmers is celebrating following the Government's announcement that young farmers will be able to use their KiwiSaver funds to buy their first home or farm.
OPINION: The euphoria over the Government’s two new bills to replace the broken Resource Management Act is over.
Canterbury arable farmers are down by tens of millions of dollars after a rollercoaster of wild changeable January weather saw harvests delayed and some crops destroyed by violent hailstorms.
OPINION: This old mutt has been around for a few years now and it seems these ‘once in 100-year’ weather events are occurring nearly every year.
Sheep and beef farmers in Hawke's Bay are being urged to keep a close eye on the wells that supply water to their stock.
New Zealand's diverse cheesemaking talent shone brightly last night as the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) crowned the champions of the 2026 New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Tracing has indicated that the source of the first velvetleaf find of the 2025-26 crop season, in Auckland, was likely maize purchased in the Waikato region.
Fish & Game New Zealand has announced its election priorities in its Manifesto 2026.
With the forage maize harvest started in Northland and the Waikato, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is telling growers of later crops, or those further south, to start checking their maize crop maturity about three weeks prior to when they think they will start silage harvesting.
Irrigation NZ is warning that the government's Resource Management Act (RMA) reform risks falling short of its objectives unless water use for food production and water storage infrastructure are clearly recognised in the goals at the top of the new system.
More than five million trays, or 18,000 tonnes, of Zespri’s RubyRed Kiwifruit will soon be available for consumers across 16 markets this season.
