Editorial: Drones Are Not Toys
OPINION: David Seymour and James Meager's plan to make it easier for farmers and orchardists to operate drones can best be described a 'courageous' move.
OPINION: The Reserve Bank’s rate cut is great news, albeit a bit late, but your old mate agrees with Act leader David Seymour that the cut – with more to come – is a “multi-billion dollar mea culpa” by the RBNZ.
It bookends a series of excesses, says Seymour.
The too-easy money of Covid times spiked house prices and inflation.
Then, interest rates shot up, house prices crashed back down. “Interest rates were also driven up by Labour’s Covid spending blowout.
Households responded by making spending sacrifices – and changing the Government.”
No time for Seymour and his coalition cohorts to rest on their laurels though – they need to keep cutting the waste and red tape from Wellington and fast tracking the infrastructure we need to avoid falling further towards third world status.
Farmgate lamb prices are down by 8%, beef cattle by 4.5% and farm expenditure up by 4.2%.
Kiwifruit growers are watchful but remain optimistic as concerns around the potential effects of the El Niño weather pattern this season.
Almond hulls sourced from Australian orchards may have the potential to help New Zealand cows reduce emissions, boost milk yield and lower input costs.
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
Surprised, humbled and quite thrilled. That’s the reaction of James Allen, one of the founding partners and now chief executive of AgFirst, on being made a life member of the Institute of Rural Professionals.

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