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 had a bit of a giggle at current Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor's effusive praise of the primary sector, when releasing the latest MPI SOPI report late last year.
O'Connor couldn't get in fast enough to welcome MPI's predictions that the country's primary sector would earn NZ more than $50 billion in export earnings by June 2022.
He even went on to say this figure would grow even more in the years ahead as NZ farmers and growers kept producing the very products the world wants.
Funny thing is that this is the same Damien O'Connor who poured scorn on his predecessor Nathan Guy when the former ag minister outlined his goal for the primary sector to double the value of its 2012 export figures of $32 billion to $64 billion by 2025.
It seems Guy's 2025 target may not be as fanciful as O'Connor claimed at the time!
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.
The country's second largest milk processor, Open Country Dairy, is building a butter plant at its Awarua site in Invercargill.
After 25 years it is the right time to step away, says Colin Glass, the retiring chief executive of New Zealand's largest private corporate dairying company, Dairy Holdings.
Politicians calling for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate risk damaging two of our gold-plated free trade deals.
Tickets are now available for the 2026 Arable Awards, set to be held in Christchurch on 20th August.
Environment Southland is calling on residents to be vigilant and check their properties after a new Old Man's Beard site was discovered near Dipton.

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