Opinion

Tackling technocrats

OPINION: Not long after I started farming, I needed some bridge stringers to cross a small, on-farm stream.

Editorial: Farmers can sleep easy now

OPINION: Common sense has prevailed.

'Sheer arrogance'

OPINION: A reader recently called out the Hound for not giving Federated Farmers enough credit for taking Otago Regional Council to task on its dodgy rule changes.

Great ideas?

OPINION: Your old mate was shocked to learn that two pet projects of progressive dreamers have come a gutser in the real world.

Fighting sexual harassment in rural workplaces

OPINION: Sexual harassment is a choice. When someone sexually harasses someone, it's an effort to bring the recipient 'down a peg or two' by attacking that person's dignity through sexualised means.

Cunning plan!

OPINION: Leader of the Labour Party and His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, Chris Hipkins, has formulated a bold strategy to regain power that his rivals won't have predicted.

Change the record

OPINION: The wooden bicycle enthusiasts over at Greenpeace have yet to meet a government policy or corporate initiative they didn't hate.

Common sense still makes sense

OPINION: I was down in the Wairarapa just recently meeting up with some good friends of many years. A businessman colleague of one of the guys joined us at a local restaurant for lunch.

Editorial: Time for some real banking solutions

OPINION: Finally we have a government that is brave enough to tackle the big banks on how they treat their rural clientele.

OPINION: When Groundswell showed up in the 'advocacy hub' at Fieldays alongside the same groups that brought you He Waka Eke Noa, the Hound feared the ginger group had been brought into the woke fold and given the old rubber ring.

Sell it!

OPINION: With things in NZ as tight as they are, your old mate is astounded the coalition Governmnt hasn't yet dumped the eternal underperformer Landcorp and put the $2 billion investment to better use.

$10 cucumbers?

OPINION: The Hound hears John Murphy, chair of Veg NZ, reckons greenhouse vege producers face severe challenges due to changes in the ETS.

Greenmail?

OPINION: In the latest example of how broken the RMA consents process is, Meridian Energy has paid out DoC, Fish & Game and iwi rather than risk them blocking the renewal of consents that it needs to keep running its Waitaki hydro scheme.

Subsidies and free trade deals

OPINION: In March this year, Defra (the UK Government Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) published the national statistics for farm business income. The figures indicate that most farms make more money from support mechanisms and ‘diversification out of agriculture’ than they do from food production.

Farmers want ORC to come clean on freshwater rules

OPINION: The Otago Regional Council needs to be honest about what the new proposed freshwater rules might mean for our community and how much it could cost local ratepayers.

Editorial: Time to right dairy worker visa scheme

OPINION: It's time for the Government to step in and resolve the migrant worker visa issue for the dairy sector, once and for all.

Sticks and stones

OPINION: If you're wondering where the extreme rhetoric of the Maori Party, with tacit approval from our chinless media, leads us to, the Hound reckons New Plymouth councillor Murray Chong could probably give you a clue.

Deliverance

OPINION: Rural services such as banks, health and postal services have been declining for years, so this mutt was tickled pink to hear Rural Women NZ on national TV slamming the impact of post office closures in rural areas.

Give it back!

OPINION: Most of the country's wage slaves will welcome the extra coin left in their wallets thanks to National's tax cuts.

China flu

OPINION: This old mutt reckons the latest red meat export numbers bring to mind the old maxim, "When China sneezes, the world catches a cold".

Face-to-face connections in a growing digital world

OPINION: Just recently I was clicking through some of the more reliable news sites, when I bumped into a headline that seemed to call out to me: Loneliness Now A Major US Health Threat. Yep, loneliness was now deemed to be seriously affecting people’s all-around health.

Editorial: Building Bridges

OPINION: After Jacinda Ardern and Labour were asked to form the government following the 2017 elections, Federated Farmers sent an email out to its executives asking if any of them had a working relationship with any Labour MPs. The answer was no one did.

'Big Joke'

OPINON: In the latest hysterical press release from Greenpeace, the sandal wearers have unleashed their worst conspiracy theorist tendencies, ranting about “Big Tobacco, Big Oil” and now “Big Meat and Dairy”.