Andrew Dickens: Smaller milk companies should have more say in the farmgate milk price

On Saturday I went to my local rugby club’s game. North Shore versus Northcote. A game Shore comfortably won.

And there I met the president of the club Laurie Magrain, who as it happens is a fan of this station and the Chair of New Zealand’s second largest dairy company, Open Country.

Peter Burke: Gloves off over Gore district plan

Provisions in the Gore District Council's proposed district plan could have a "chilling effect" on everyday farming activities.

That's the view of Southland Federated Farmers president, Jason Herrick, who says a section in the plan designates the whole district as a 'Site and Area of Significance (SAMS) to Māori’, rather than just identifying specific sites as is the case with the present plan.

Herrick says the implication of such a blanket approach will mean that no farming activity, however mundane, can take place without a cultural report being prepared. He says this is a highly unusual approach to handling iwi interests.