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OPINION: Mike Chapman, former chief executive of levy-funded HortNZ, has thrown out a challenge to farmers and growers to put their levy-funded industry organisations under the same scrutiny as fertiliser, electricity, labour and freight.
"A levy is still a cost of production," he says.
The Hound reckons Chapman is on the money here: scrutiny of the levy spend isn't what it used to be, especially with one rural publisher now in bed with DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ and the Feds.
Chapman notes, we cannot move New Zealand closer to markets, create the scale of larger countries or match developing-country wage rates.
We can, however, influence the cost of our levy-funded industry organisations.
"That requires scrutiny of governance, overhead, duplicated services, separate offices, research, conferences and promotion," he says.
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A free online platform aggregating governance vacancies across rural and regional New Zealand has been launched.
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Leading John Deere technicians and apprentices from New Zealand and Australians were recognised at the recent sixth annual JD Technician of the Year Awards, held in Brisbane.
In Dacre, near Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island, Bruce Dinnington is running a dairy operation unlike any other.
A free online platform aggregating governance vacancies across rural and regional New Zealand has been launched.
Environment Minister Nicola Grigg has announced details of a new rural plastics recycling scheme.
Agricultural drone operators say that a government decision to allow lower-risk drone work without certification won’t lower standards but drive innovation and efficiency.
