US tariffs and shipping delays push NZ apple exports to Asia
A Hawke's Bay apple grower says it's no longer profitable for him to export apples to the US because of the 15% tariff imposed on them by Donald Trump.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of 125% on the US, up from the 84% announced earlier.
That apparently pushes the tariff on US pork and pork variety meat to an eye watering 172%.
The new soybean tariff is more than 150%.
This follows Trump’s partial backdown after markets went into freefall, pausing reciprocal tariffs on most countries for 90 days, but upping the ante on China with a tariff of 145%.
Your old mate reckons once tariffs get that high, the actual number becomes academic.
The US Farm Journal concurs: “Whether the tariffs are 50% or 100%, it really doesn’t matter. Either one shuts down trade. It hurts our cotton exports, our beef and our pork.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.

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