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Andrew Hoggard.
Feds' dairy chair says farmers must be on the lookout for upcoming issues.
Andrew Hoggard told his group’s annual meeting that environmental groups haven’t stopped paying attention, the trade unions haven’t moved on to something else and everyone else who is looking for a ‘dog to kick’ to raise their profile will target dairy.
He asked who knew that David Shearer was still in Parliament, until he made his comments on the price of milk.
Hoggard believes the biggest issue facing the dairy industry is the cap on nitrogen and how this is allocated.
“We have had calls for moratoriums on dairy conversions, but surely the priority needs to be agreeing on acceptable water quality standards for various catchments and then devising a fair and equitable allocation regime across all sectors.
“Coming up with such a system is the huge challenge we face right now and coming up with smart solutions in this space is where we need to be devoting our time,” he says.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to highlight the most troublesome farm pests – a serious issue that needs some urgent attention from the Beehive.
There was much theatre in the Beehive before the Government's new Resource Management Act (RMA) reform bills were introduced into Parliament last week.
Farmers are welcoming the announcement of two new bills to replace the under-fire Resource Management Act.
The Government has announced it will immediately roll over all resource consents for two years, with legislation expected to pass under urgency as early as this week.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
Former Agriculture Minister and Otaki farmer Nathan Guy has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE).
Alliance Group has commissioned a new heat pump system at its Mataura processing plant in Southland.
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.
Meat processors are hopeful that the additional 15% tariff on lamb exports to the US will also come off.
OPINION: The release of the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill to replace the Resource Management Act is a red-letter day…
OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to…
