Editorial: Punching Above Our Weight
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Hound would love to be a fly on the wall at the next Fonterra board meeting, when re-elected director Leonie Guiney returns to the dairy co-op’s the top table.
Your old mate hears that the self-nominated Guiney was the top-polling candidate at this year’s director elections.
This must have been a double whammy to Fonterra’s network of old-boys who not only engineered Guiney’s departure from the board last year via their Stalinist ‘board candidate nominee process’ but also watched as two of their ‘nominees’ failed to get elected last month.
One can only guess there will be some very uncomfortable people with red faces when they welcome the South Canterbury farmer back to Gumboot Castle in Auckland. Awkward, as they say.
The avocado sector is entering the new season with a larger crop and positive market opportunities.
New Zealand growers have always adapted to changing conditions, but one challenge is steadily gaining ground across the horticulture sector: resistance.
Blueberries have the potential to become a major horticultural export, earning up to $150 million within the next three to five years.
Twenty five secondary school students from around New Zealand recently completed a three day residential programme designed to explore career opportunities across the food and fibre production supply chain.
Conversions of sheep and beef farms to forestry have slowed, however new research from Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) suggests land of value for food production remains at risk.
OPINION: A simpler, clearer, more effective Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.