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Hypocrites
Your old mate was intrigued to see former Greens co-leader Jeannette Fitzsimons appeared at a consent hearing to protest about the expansion of Fonterra’s factory at Studholme, South Canterbury....
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Ouch
The Hound had a bit of a giggle at the sight of the party’s supposed mates giving it a serve over the way it gets things so wrong. The peak body for the organics sector in NZ – Organics Aotearoa New...
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Ag sector seriously lacking in its R&D funding
At a forestry event last year a speaker talking about forest owners' spending on science asked, "How much does the kiwifruit industry commit to research?" Given that our property grows kiwifruit -- and...
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Multi-billion dollar hort industry faces challenges
Whether fruit or vegetables, there is growth in both domestic and export sales. Today horticulture is New Zealand's fourth-largest export earner. If we reach our industry target of $10 billion by 2020,...
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More than careless
Your canine crusader hears that all is not well within the work environs of rural lobby Fed Farmers, where a number of senior staff have jumped ship. As reported in the last issue of this fine news...
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A great story to tell — Editorial
New Zealand special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen says NZ desperately needs to develop a new primary sector story to help sell its products to the world. And it's hard to disagree. As...
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Quack, quack
It seems the past chairman and current member of Meat Industry Excellence (MIE), John McCarthy, has taken umbrage at the Hound’s suggestion in the May 3 issue. The suggestion was of a certain amount of...
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Between a rock and a hard place
Fonterra shareholders are between a rock and a hard place. The dilemma is in governance and neither of the current possibilities appears to be without concerns. The status quo is a board of 13...
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Oh dear
Meantime, the Hound would never insinuate that Mr McCarthy is a racist or a xenophobe. But when his statements are re-publicised by the NZ National Front – an outfit that claims to be pro-white and...
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We’re all in this together
With June now just around the corner it is hard to believe we are almost halfway through the year. There is no doubt that 2016 has been a demanding year for most rural contractors and the agricultural...
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MIE IOU
Meanwhile, your canine crusader has learned just possibly why MIE was so keen to secure more cash from Beef + Lamb NZ levy funds earlier this year. Unfortunately for MIE, its plea for more farmer money...
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Bad PR
The Hound hears that a recent off-farm event organised by good farming folk in South Canterbury was a real hit... With 400 farmers gathering in Timaru for free beers and a bit of fun. By all accounts...
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Transparency
It seems the Hound item last issue about MIE not paying its bills set off even more calls to the kennel tip line about the lack of financial rigour by the meat industry ginger group. One concerned...
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Vanilla changes don’t inspire — Editorial
Fonterra farmer shareholders will vote this week on changes to the co-op's governance. Two big changes are proposed: to reduce the board to 11 directors from 13, and to have a new selection panel...
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Biosecurity risks a handbrake on sector’s potential growth
Ups and downs in income are a tough issue for businesses in the primary sector. Dairy industry highs and lows are a prime example of a problem with many causes; for primary industry exporters the main...
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P#ss and wind
Speaking of MIE and it’s interesting array of ‘associates’... The Hound notes that NZ First leader Winston Peters is unhappy with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) for declaring no issues with the...
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Who?
Your old mate reckons the world is going seriously wrong when you have international do-gooder organisations out there telling us what is good for us and what is not. Apparently health ministers in the...
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More FE research needed
Peter Burke's article 'Facial eczema hitting lambing percentages' (May 24) was disturbing because, unfortunately, he will be right. But it should and could have been quite unnecessary. FE tolerance...
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The mood at Mystery Creek
Arguably the mood at the National Fieldays is a tangible barometer for farmer confidence. When the dairy pay-out was high, farmers had cheque books at the ready, but this year with the pay-out down,...
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Mad cow
New Zealand needs to get rid of 80% of its dairy cows because “dairying is dirtying our water”. That was the message given to the recent annual meeting of Wanganui Federated Farmers by the province’s...
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