Farming

Bill English was criticised for saying many unemployed are drug addled drop kicks. Turns out the evidence from employers suggests this is true.

Another employer agrees with Bill.

A Hamilton-based farm recruitment agency is backing Prime Minister Bill English’s claims that Kiwi workers’ inability to pass drug tests are why overseas workers are needed.

Cross Country Recruitment managing director Ben De’Ath  said that since December 4, 2016, 21 individual farm owners have contacted him seeking new staff because they have had to instantly dismiss staff due to failed drug tests for methamphetamine or cannabis.   Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

Government’s commitment to strengthening national policy requirements for swimmable lakes and rivers is great news for the community, Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey says.

Doocey said the Waimak’s unique set of circumstances – of rapid growth, mix of urban and peri-urban areas, and its regeneration – made water management a key part of the Waimakariri success story.

“Water usage is an important topic for this area; in Waimakariri, freshwater is in our name and our economic and recreational success is linked to our water usage,” Doocey said.

“When I attended the local community water usage talks last year I was impressed by the collaboration between Environment Canterbury, the Waimakariri District Council and other partners, including local iwi and the community. Their evidence-based approach demonstrates the ability for issues to be managed at a local level.”

Doocey also brought Associate Conservation Minister Nicky Wagner to Waimakariri last year to be briefed on the work being undertaken by the Kaiapoi River Rehabilitation Group to rehabilitate the Kaiapoi River. Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

There are reasons almost every day to believe the media are biased and only really interested in sensationalism, controversy and negativity.

Here is an example.

A few weeks ago The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a report that included some criticisms of farming and its effects on rivers.  It was negatively slanted and demanded greater action.  There were a couple of articles that followed that repeated the criticisms and together they got extensive coverage in all media with readers chipping in with negative comments.

Yesterday the Sustainable Dairying Group released a factual report on how things were going down on the farm – progress on making our waterways even cleaner than they are now.  It is useful to remember that a few years ago the OECD tested 90 rivers in its member countries and New Zealand had three rivers in the top four for cleanliness – the Waikato, Waitaki and Clutha – all in intensive dairying areas.

The latest report should have been headlines in every media outlet.  Why?  Because of the vast number of improvements achieved, because of past criticisms that got headlines and because it is a great story of Kiwi effort and innovation.

Here are a few compelling stats:    Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

PM John Key

New Zealand farmers need to step up their investment on science and innovation to combat the impact of methane and nitrates from agriculture on climate change, Prime Minister John Key said.

Mr Key told the Platinum Primary Producers annual conference in Wellington that the focus would return to climate change as the economy recovers from the global financial crisis and the pressure would come more and more on the agricultural industry, which is responsible for half of New Zealand’s emissions.

Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

Labour, and in particular Labour Rotorua, just don’t get how finance works. We’ve already seen Tamati’s little pearl of wisdom on how profit works.

Now they want us to believe a good government should never let people default on their loans. How could this possibly go wrong?

Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

After more than a decade of bashing farmers Andrew Little has now confirmed that he supports Grant Robertson’s call for a return to Muldoon-era farm subsidies, as well as wanting to bully banks.

Labour leader Andrew Little has called for banks to be “stiff armed” into not forcing dairy farmers off their land, warning that could see more farms fall into overseas ownership.

His call came amid calculations by the Reserve Bank that in a worst case scenario up to 15 per cent of the $40 billion in dairy farm debt – equivalent to more than $5 billion – could be lost to the banks.

Fonterra dropped its forecast dairy payout forecast to $3.90 a kilo of milk solids last week. An estimated 85 per cent or more of farms are not expected to make a profit at that level.

The good news is that Labour have declared a crisis. The bad news is that Andrew Little is showing he is an economic retard. Talk of “stiff-arming” banks is ridiculous. Even in sport such tactics are illegal, and in international finance you’d destroy the economy faster than you could say 255 if you even thought about forcing banks to listen to the dictates of a government, or even tried nationalising them.

Little said the banks needed to be “stiff-armed and told we’re not going to see, wholesale, farmers pushed off the land”.

He said with some estimates of up to 25 per cent of dairy farmers in trouble, and with the value of land and herds falling, banks might look at their most marginal loans with a view to forcing farmers out.

“We expose more New Zealand farm land to the risk of overseas ownership and I think that is a matter in which there is a national interest the Government should be alert to, and take action on.”

Labour, the Greens and NZ First have called for help for farmers.

Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

Finance Minister Bill English is ruling out a Government bailout for struggling farmers to prevent widespread foreclosures.

Opposition leaders have called on the Government to offer a relief package to farmers, hit hard by low dairy prices and current dairy debt of $38 billion.

However, Mr English told TVNZ’s Q&A programme today that a bailout was out of the question. Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

Have a listen to Grant Robertson.

He is proposing a return to farm subsidies.

Subsidies for dairy farmers?

So Robertson’s, and presumably Labour’s, position is that those businesses should not be allowed to fail. No matter what they pay for their land, the government should make sure they can make ends meet.

Hell, why stop there?    Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

John Key sledges out Grant Robertson.

It’s a bit rich of Robbo to moan about juvenile politicking as he’s one of the worst.   Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

CRAIG SIMCOX/FAIRFAX NZ, via Stuff

Farmers could face thousands of dollars in fines if their stock are found to be in waterways, as the government looks to tackle water quality issues.

The lack of consistency and enforcement of local council rules around stock access to waterways has prompted the government to introduce national regulations around the issue.

A consultation document featuring 23 initiatives to improve water quality was announced by Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Environment Minister Nick Smith at the annual BlueGreens Forum in Tekapo on Saturday.

Dairy cows and pigs will be required to be fenced off from waterways by July 2017. Other stock would be progressively included in the regulations by 2030.

It is hard to understand why our Chief Justice Sian Elias got a mere warning.  If nothing else, it was a great opportunity to set an example and take it on the chin.  It’s not as if a fine would have created any financial hardship. Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz