Government Mulling Plan Change 1 Intervention
The Government is looking at intervening on behalf of Waikato farmers who face new regulations around agricultural land use while Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms are underway.
OPINION: This old mutt suggests the new government is going to have to move fast to rein in a number of district and regional councils around the country who seem hell-bent on trying to push through their own agendas.
A good example is the Otago Regional Council (ORC), which has been warned against ploughing ahead with a controversial water plan, despite recently meeting with Resource Management Act Reform Minister Chris Bishop to discuss how the new government's plan to update national freshwater management policies would affect the council's under-development land and water plan.
When Bishop informed the ORC in December that their June deadline had changed, the ORC issued a statement the following day saying, no, it had not.
Bishop needs to let ORC know - quick-smart - who is in charge and that it's not them!
Lactalis New Zealand has opened a new distribution centre in Christchurch, marking a significant investment in the company's South Island supply chain capability.
Women up and down the country are the glue that hold rural communities together, giving so much to so many, says the inaugural Rural Woman of the year award winner Kate Acland.
Waikato dairy farmer Danielle Hovmand has been named the primary sector's top emerging leader.
Don’t worry about it but just be aware - that’s the message from Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director-general Ray Smith as the H5N1 strain of bird flu is found in Australia.
OPINION: The dairy sector has been told that it cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
Lindy Nelson, Safety Farms ambassador, has been named the winner of the Leadership category at the 2026 New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards in Auckland.

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…