Be afraid
OPINION: Your old mate hears some of the recent uptick in farmer confidence has slipped since the political polls started leading a bit to the left, away from the current coalition of National, Act and NZ First.
OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an 8-hour marathon hearing.
Let’s hope members of the select committee were going through MPI’s budget with a fine tooth comb.
There seems to plenty of fat in MPI’s budget to cut that would help with the Government’s goal to trim back excessive public sector body spending.
A couple of suggestions for the chop would be everything to do with the totally useless and expensive Fit for a Better World programme, which seems to deliver a fancy report each year but has achieved SFA.
Another area your old mate would aim to drop is the pointless money waster that is MPI’s investment in promoting regen ag and its huge handouts to Māori farming organisations.
Surely if regen ag and the Māori farming sector are viable options they don’t need MPI (i.e. taxpayers) subsidising them.
A brilliant result and great news for growers and regional economies. That's how horticulture sector leaders are describing the news that sector exports for the year ended June 30 will reach $8.4 billion - an increase of 19% on last year and is forecast to hit close to $10 billion in 2029.
Funding is proving crucial for predator control despite a broken model reliant on the goodwill of volunteers.
A major milestone on New Zealand's unique journey to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis could come before the end of this year.
We're working through it, and we'll get to it.
The debate around New Zealand's future in the Paris Agreement is heating up.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.