M.I.A.
OPINION: The previous government spent too much during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite warnings from officials, according to a briefing released by the Treasury.
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne says COVID-19 has highlighted the strength of the farmer lobby.
“It shows the strength of Federated Farmers that we’re being looked to as the ‘go to’ source of advice and conduit of essential information to the agriculture sector during Covid-19,” she told Feds members in an email last night.
“We’ve found answers to pretty much every question our members have fired at us over the last week or two and it’s all summarised on our website and in the regular advisories we’ve emailed.”
Milne says it isn’t too far-fetched an analogy to say the nation is at war.
“This time the enemy is microscopic but still deadly.
“And just as farming and food supply was regarded as essential services during both World Wars, the government has again given us that status under the COVID-19 lockdown.”
Milne points out that as NZ faces huge economic disruption as a country we’re holding onto a small number of economic life rafts. Farming is one of them.
“The export income we continue to earn is crucial now, and as we recover at the other end of this crisis.
“The seasons and the requirements of our animals and crops pay no heed to coronavirus. “Sheep still have to be shorn for their welfare: fertiliser still has to be spread so there is grass and crops after winter.”
However, Milne had some strong words of caution for farmers.
No farmer should abuse this privileged position we have been granted, she adds.
“If it’s not essential work, don’t do it. No gallivanting off socially; we need to observe lockdown rules after work just like the rest of New Zealanders. Keep your 2-metres from fellow workers.”
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.