increase font size
Federated Farmers is hopeful an administrative issue affecting New Zealand meat exports to China will soon be resolved.
"On top of the drought and the meat schedules this is causing concern amongst sheep and beef farmers," says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers president and its trade spokesperson.
"It is reassuring to see Minister Nathan Guy confirm that its speedy resolution is the Ministry for Primary Industries number one priority.
"Sheep and beef farmers will be affected one way or another as suppliers or shareholders. A number of the exporters involved in the delay are cooperatives. This means any financial impact ultimately falls back upon the farmers who cooperatively own them.
"What I can say is that New Zealand's farmers truly value the Chinese market for our lamb.
"We want to build a much closer relationship with Chinese consumers and our Chinese farming counterparts too. It is about establishing a true-two way relationship and we hope these messages can be conveyed to the right authorities.
"I know our farmers will want a speedy resolution to any confusion around export certificates. Farmers genuinely appreciate the hard work being put in by our embassy staff in China and that of the Chinese Government.
"We must now urgently resolve this matter to the satisfaction of the Chinese authorities. Comment must be responsible and informed by fact because speculation could do New Zealand damage in a vital market," Wills says.
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact that, now more than ever, US farmers are being propped up by government welfare – a direct result of Trump’s hardline on its trading partners.
China looks set to play a key role in helping the New Zealand wool sector shift away from trading as a commodity supplier.
Global trade wars and uncertain tariff regimes could play into the hands of many New Zealand exporters, according to Gareth Coleman ANZ’s Head of Trade & Supply Chain.
If you find a new consumer in a developed wine market, you are taking them from someone else, says Blank Canvas co-founder Sophie Parker-Thomson MW.
The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
