Editorial: Resource consent saga
OPINION: The Government needs to act now to address consenting issues faced by farmers throughout the country.
Oamaru vet Dr Merlyn Hay, who in 2017 outed Mycoplasma bovis on an Oamaru dairy farm, won the premier award at the Feds conference.
She was one of several people recognised for outstanding contributions to the primary sector.
“I was just doing my job,” she told Rural News in response. “It’s very humbling and I’m not sure it’s entirely deserved.”
Hay says when she saw the unusual and distressing symptoms in the farm’s cows and calves she talked to colleagues, trying to brainstorm ideas and see the signs that would lead to an unusual diagnosis.
“I was encouraged by Associate Professor Richard Laven at Massey University that we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of an exotic disease,” she said.
Hay’s nominator for the award said they’d always found rural vets willing to go the extra mile, but says her actions had given that a whole new meaning.
“She didn’t have to do what she did, but the country is better for it. Dr Hay has saved the New Zealand primary sector millions of dollars and potentially enabled our country to achieve what no other country has -- to rid itself of this disease.”
Metallica's charitable foundation, All Within My Hands (AWMH), teamed up with Meet the Need this week for a food packing event held at the New Zealand Food Network warehouse in Auckland.
After two years, Alliance Group has returned to profit.
According to Zespri's November forecast for the 2025/26 season, returns are likely to be up for all fruit groups compared to the last forecast in August.
Next month, wool training will reach one of New Zealand's most remote communities, the Chatham Islands - bringing hands-on skills and industry connection to locals eager to step into the wool harvesting sector.
Farmers' health and wellbeing will take centre stage with a new hub at the 2026 East Coast Farming Expo.
Dannevirke farmer Dan Billing has been announced as the new national chair of Beef + Lamb New Zealand's (B+LNZ) Farmer Council.

OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer…
OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at…