If elected, Labour’s charge on water for irrigation will be a “small royalty” for all “substantial takes”, says spokesman for water and the environment David Parker.

The Labour Party has sent “blank invoices” to farmers around the country, says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.

Your old mate was flabbergasted at the sheer political gall of Labour and the Greens in their latter-day ‘concern for farmers’ in the wake of the recent drop in dairy payout.

Feedback on the TPP from agribusinesses has been mostly positive, but the same cannot be said for most political parties. Here's an offering of what some of our political parties have to say;

Labour spokesman on primary industries, Damien O’Connor says while the dairy developments at Taupo are impressive it’s important the Crown is not exposed to major debt such as that of Solid Energy.

NZ's special agriculture trade envoy Mike Petersen has given the Labour Party and others a serve over its clearly “political” stance and “ridiculous claims” about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations.

Labour's Primary Industries spokesman Damien O’Connor claims there’s been a lot of misunderstanding about what is or is not in the Health and Safety Reform Bill and says that’s no one’s fault.

Labour is now also putting the putting the boot into the NZ dairy sector. Its trade spokesman David Parker has accused Trade Minister Tim Groser of insulting Canadian diplomats by comparing that country’s dairy industry to the Soviet Union.

O'Conner says he had a very productive meeting with the group he once labelled ‘The National Party in Gumboots’ – Federated Farmers.

Labour's primary industries spokesman Damien O’Connor is concerned that trade-related issues may be overriding biosecurity issues.