Select committee 'blew it' - Feds
Sheep and beef farmers are urging the Government to do more to stop productive farmland overrun by pine trees.
OPINION:This old mutt suggests that the election of Kate Acland as chair of Beef+Lamb NZ – after the electoral demise of former chair Andrew Morrison – has seen many people miss the family link to producer board organisations.
Acland’s uncle (by marriage), John Acland, was the chair of B+LNZ’s predecessor Meat NZ back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Meanwhile, John’s father, Sir Jack Acland, was chair of the Wool Board during the 1960s and early 1970s.
It seems the Acland family have had a long association with farmer levy funded bodies over the years, with Kate now the third generation of the family to take the reins.
The Hound reckons Kate will in time probably want to emulate the efforts of John Acland at Meat NZ who left the organisation on his own terms, rather than Sir Jack who resigned after a farmer-led coup against the organisation.
Sound familiar?
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
A landmark New Zealand trial has confirmed what many farmers have long suspected - that strategic spring nitrogen use not only boosts pasture growth but delivers measurable gains in lamb growth and ewe condition.
It was recently announced that former MP and Southland farmer Eric Roy has stepped down of New Zealand Pork after seven years. Leo Argent talks with Eric about his time at the organisation and what the future may hold.