THE WAIKATO Regional Council says a large proportion of dairy water-take consents required under its new Variation 6 water allocation policy should only need to go through a "relatively simple" process.

AS Greenpeace launches its annual attack on dairying's use of palm kernel, drought is looming over key agricultural areas, threatening to put pressure on feed availability.

LANDCORP'S ROLLS Peak Station, just north-east of Taupo, takes you back in time. It's serious hill country that's been stripped of exotic trees and is slowly being developed into a dairy support unit for the SOE's dairy farms in the Wairakei Estate.