OPINION: A Waikato dairy farm is getting behind a new initiative to help cafes and the dairy sector cut down on the use of single-use milk bottles by the thousands each year.

OPINION: Another dairy company in strife is Happy Valley Nutrition.

New DairyNZ chief financial officer Robyn Marsh started last week, an appointment DairyNZ says will provide strong financial direction, vision, and profitable management.

Farmers' satisfaction with their bank relationship continues to slip and more perceive they are under undue pressure, the latest Federated Farmers Banking Survey shows.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, and Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) say while they support the use of farm plans as a tool, they have concerns about the implementation and short timeframes the Government is working to.

Westpac has launched a new sustainable business loan to support corporate and agribusiness customers to make progress on their sustainability initiatives, whether they are working to improve the environment or achieve positive social outcomes, or both.

Westpac head of agribusiness Tim Henshaw says their new sustainable farm loan will help farmers on their journey to become more resilient food producers.

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor along with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins launched the SOPI report at Fieldays.

For the much-maligned dairy industry, NZ's primary export returns for 2023 would be looking grim.

It's reported that just over 100,000 people attended this year's four day National Fieldays at Mystery Creek near Hamilton. As expected, the number of people attednign the event and exhibitors was well down on pre-Covid numbers and, according to reporter Peter Burke who first attended the event in 1981, this year was quite different.