Damien O’Connor Criticises Budget 2026 as ‘Miserable’ for Rural New Zealand
A miserable budget that didn’t deliver much for anyone.
OPINION: Your old mate has heard about rugby players putting their bodies on the line for their country, but not bureaucrats.
However, word has it that one of NZ's key trade negotiators in the recent FTA with the UK caught Covid-19 during a trade trip last month.
Vangelis Vitalis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's deputy secretary for trade and economic issues, accompanied Damien O'Connor on his trip to the United States and EU in October.
In a statement, MFAT confirmed that Vitalis had tested positive for Covid-19 while in Europe, it added that he was double-vaccinated, had experienced only milk symptoms to date and was recovering well.
Talk about taking one for the team!
I'm sure farmers around NZ will join the Hound in wishing Vitalis a speedy recovery and thank him for his efforts in helping secure better access for NZ primary products around the world.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
Farmer owned co-operative Ravensdown has signed a two-year naming rights sponsorship of the Canterbury A&P Show.
OPINION: Confidence in the wool sector is rebounding as prices hit levels not seen in more than 15 years.
More than 300 growers, exporters, researchers, service providers and industry leaders will descend on Queenstown later this month for EXPO 2026, the annual conference for New Zealand’s apple and pear sector.

OPINION: Central Hawke's Bay farmer Mark Warren recently told the Hawke's Bay Times it's time for a conversation about allowing…
OPINION: A nation that relies as heavily as NZ does on functional global shipping lanes will have to do its…