Editorial: RMA reforms uproar
OPINION: The euphoria over the Government’s two new bills to replace the broken Resource Management Act is over.
Outgoing Federated Farmers leader Karen Williams says she will remain a Federated Farmers member.
She says the farmer lobby is doing an amazing job across nearly 40 policy areas with an increasing number and complexity of issues.
"People don't appreciate just how hard the staff and elected officials work on their behalf or how many submissions we write, hearings we attend and outcomes we influence by just being in the room."
She says Feds is a broad-church of members, and it tries to represent everyone as fairly as it can. But she adds that, like all representative bodies, it can't please all of the people, all of the time.
"But I would ask members, and those people who should be members, to hang in there with us, there is much work to be done."
Fonterra’s impending exit from the Australian dairy industry is a major event but the story doesn’t change too much for farmers.
Expect greater collaboration between Massey University’s school of Agriculture and Environment and Ireland’s leading agriculture university, the University College of Dublin (UCD), in the future.
A partnership between Torere Macadamias Ltd and the Riddet Institute aims to unlock value from macadamia nuts while growing the next generation of Māori agribusiness researchers.
A new partnership between Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) and NZAgbiz aims to make evidence-based calf rearing practices accessible to all farm teams.
Despite some trying circumstances recently, the cherry season looks set to emerge on top of things.
Changed logos on shirts otherwise it will be business as usual when Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses are expected to change hands next month.

OPINION: Here w go: the election date is set for November 7 and the politicians are out of the gate…
OPINION: ECan data was released a few days ago showing Canterbury farmers have made “giant strides on environmental performance”.