Little change seen in agri-food crystal ball Keith Woodford casts an eye over the year ahead for agri-food and sees no sudden improvements. Sadly, the number of small family farms with less than 300 cows will further decline, and we will see the first signs of this in 2016. The year ahead is going to […]
Bryan Gould: TPP signing a denial of democracy 1:50 PM Thursday Jan 14, 2016 It is one of the peculiarities of a Westminster-style constitution that the power to conclude international treaties rests exclusively with the executive – in our case, with the Cabinet. The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is no exception. While a National Impact […]
Hate of the Union: the TPP is an Offence to the People by Paul Street When Feelings Reflect Reality Introduced in George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty Four, the word “doublethink” refers to the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time and to believe both of them. I don’t […]
The World Has Reached Peak Chicken, Peak Rice, And Peak Milk We no longer have the ability to harvest from the Earth at ever-increasing rates. What does that mean for the future of the food supply? We still haven’t reached peak oil. But peak milk happened in 2004, peak soybeans in 2009, and peak […]
Quad bikes ‘not suited’ to farm tasks ALEX DRUCE 13 Jan, 2016 11:42 AM 2 Keeping children off quad bikes of any size, not carrying passengers or loads or spray tanks and wearing a helmet have been listed as important safety actions. ONE in five farm deaths in 2015 involved quad bikes, with rural safety […]
Dairy farmers are focused on doing their bit to improve water quality in New Zealand and have made measurable progress in their environmental performance. DairyNZ’s environment policy manager, Dr Mike Scarsbrook, says the dairy industry is pleased to see a new State of the Environment report being released today to fill […]
GE ANIMALS in New Zealand GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS: THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS GE Free NZ in Food and Environment has compiled this report from information gathered through AgResearch annual reports and Official Information Act requests (OIA). Written by Claire Bleakley GE Free New Zealand In Food and Environment Inc. PO Box 13402, Wellington, […]
October 16, 2015 Inside the TPP: Trading People for Profit by Mark Moreno Pascual A new addition to the growing number of “free trade” agreements (FTAs) took center stage last Monday as the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries announced the conclusion of a mammoth “trade” deal that covers more than 60% of the […]
Driver licence obligations for farmers, rural landowners and workers There are plenty of tasks that involve driving if you are a rural landowner. The nature of farming and its associated enterprises, and the lack of viable public transport alternatives means that most people that work in rural industries need a driver’s licence. As the rules […]
October 21, 2015 Monsanto’s Hand of God: Planned Obsolescence of the Indian Farmer by Colin Todhunter The mantra of global agribusiness companies is that they care about farmers. They also really care about humanity and want to help to feed a growing world population, preferably by using genetically modified (GM) crops. They say that they […]