Editorial: Punching Above Our Weight
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
Fonterra has copped a fair bit of stick from the Hound over the years. However, on this occasionyour old mate would like to give the dairy co-op some well-deserved praise.
It has changed a tanker collection time so that 35-year-old Andrew Oliver (one of about eight people in the world living with Fryns-Aftimos syndrome) can keep to his nightly routine of watching the tanker collect his dad Ken’s milk before going to bed at a decent time.
Apparently, Andrew, whose mental age is about six, would not go to bed until the milk tanker had been -- a problem when the collection time was 2am.
However, after his dad phoned Fonterra’s call centre to explain the family’s problem, the co-op decided to change its entire milk tanker schedule in the Te Rapa district to oblige.
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.

OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…