Agriculture Minister David Carter says when he made remarks
that a sale currently being considered by the Overseas
Investment Office is unlikely to go through he was unaware
that contracts had been signed.
Biosecurity officials say the nation's border protection will
be strengthened with the doubling of instant fines for false
or incorrect border declarations from next week.
New Zealand farmers will have less to sell than usual this
autumn as several regions slide into drought, creating a
"weak tail" to the main primary production season, says a
leading rural bank.
Cabinet will get a first-hand account of agricultural
development in the Mackenzie, Ohau and Omarama Basins after a
visit to the areas yesterday by Minister of Agriculture David
Carter.
Waitaki First has issued a challenge to the Government to
"walk the talk" and get involved in the resource consents
process to establish 16 new dairy farms with up to 17,850
cows at Omarama and Ohau in the upper Waitaki Valley.
Widening the Government funding criteria to develop
irrigation schemes is a good move, but funds for capital
works would be even more welcome, Otago irrigation scheme
proponents say.
