OPINION: The global dairy market continues to show resilience, and farmers remain cautiously optimistic as we move into the latter half of 2025.
New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.
OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery finally roars to life.
If voters see some growth and wages rising faster than prices, the government could say they've "fixed" things as they ride into the next election.
Back here on Earth though, the economy they inherited is a basket case, and the long-term headwinds are fierce.
Political commentator Liam Hehir says, "dreams are not plans" and if the turnaround doesn't come in time, National may have no choice but to go negative.
"Everybody wants to fight on the economy if they can. But when neither side has a compelling story, the contest shifts to other issues. That's not new. In fact, it's the stuff of politics everywhere, always."
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OPINION: I was quite casually browsing through some news headlines recently, when one of them really caught my attention.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Nothing it seems can be done in the short term to get Donald Trump to change his mind about removing the unfair 15% tariffs that he’s imposed on New Zealand exports to the US.
OPINION: At the recent Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference, the Porto Protocol’s Marta Mendonça said, “Grapes are not the thirstiest of crops, but they are a luxury crop”.
OPINION: We are endlessly told that livestock are responsible for half of New Zealand's total emissions.
OPINION: There is zero chance that someone who joined Fonterra as a lobbyist, then served as a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand, doesn't understand that local butter (and milk and cheese) prices are set by the international commodity price.
OPINION: The Government has been seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to a range of Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction instruments.
OPINION: The Rural Support Trust ran a dinner and debate at the National Fieldays last month. In tables of 10, over 540 people were wined and dined, including the Prime Minister, supported by ministers from around the country.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
OPINION: Your old mate hears that at a recent China Business Summit, PM Christopher Luxon delivered a none-too-subtle "could try harder" report card on the red meat industry regarding its exports to China - particularly when compared to Australia.
OPINION: Bayer Crop Science closing its Hastings research site could be the tip of the iceberg.
OPINION: The image of regenerative farmers as kind, cuddly progressive types took a hit when one of their own took to social media to gloat over Bayer Crop Science's decision to close its Hastings research site.
OPINION: The Government's decision to stop local authorities going ahead with reviews of district and regional plans makes sense for several reasons.
OPINION: As decisions around freshwater rules edge closer, the message from dairy farmers is clear.
OPINION: Farmers and growers know the frustration well: Pointless paperwork, slow consents, and confusing red tape that turns simple tasks into complex ones.
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The Hound
Wrong focus
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is…
Burn the village
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle…
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