An end to ‘punitive and pointless' gift duty in sight - Read more »

Grubby goose in line of fire - Read more »

ETS agriculture regulations presumptive and premature - Read more »

Dam safety report backs Federated Farmers approach - Read more »

Goff, Carter and Key to face farmers in Invercargill - Read more »

Pressure building for OCR rise but not yet, farmers argue - Read more »

New Slaughter Code raises problems for rural butchers - Read more »

International aviation fuel 100% purely exempt from ETS - Read more »

Agriculture recognised in Honours List - Read more »

O.N.Z.M for Tom Henderson richly deserved - Read more »

To view the full list of media releases or to view any other publications, click here.

Meet policy advisors in Dargaville - Federated Farmers is holding a public meeting in Dargaville to discuss local issues on at 1pm Monday, 21 June at the Dargaville Club, 53-55 Victoria St, Dargaville. Come along and listen to regional policy advisor, Rhea Dasent, who will be speaking on the Kaipara District Plan, how it will affect farming and what Federated Farmers can do about it. Federated Farmers senior policy advisor, Richard Gardner, who has recently been working on the Auckland super city reforms, will speak on Local Government structure in Northland.

Super city rating system - Federated Farmers Auckland provincial president, Wendy Clark, and senior policy advisor, Nigel Billings, presented Federated Farmers vision for the rating system of the Auckland super city to the Rural Industries Group. The duo pointed out the need for the new Auckland council to have the courage to develop a transparent rating system based on sound principles, making use of the variety of tools in rating legislation such as targeted rates and differentials. They also pointed out that it is vitally important for Auckland's considerable rural business sector that the new Council not kick for touch by opting for a simple general rate based on property value. This would squander a prime opportunity to build confidence in the super city structure through a smart system of funding. The Rural Industries Group comprises representatives from a variety of rural organisations and meets regularly with rural councillors and relevant staff of the Auckland Regional Council.

Environment Waikato's Variation 5 - On Tuesday Federated Farmers Rotorua-Taupo provincial president, Neil Heather, Federated Farmers Ruapehu provincial president, Lyn Neeson, and policy advisors, Richard Gardner and Rhea Dasent, met with Environment Waikato (EW), to discuss the ways that Variation 5 has seriously disadvantaged some  farmers in the Taupo catchment. EW Chairman, Peter Buckley, and Deputy Chairman, John Fisher, are meeting with the governance group in a couple of weeks and have agreed to raise our issues then. EW staff have seriously considered methods that may mitigate the disadvantages to individual farmers and so Federated Farmers has also managed to get a firm commitment to analyse the protocol templates that staff have been working on, in order to ensure they are reasonable and workable on farm.

One Plan won't rule them all - Federated Farmers Ruapehu, in association with the three other provinces in the Horizons region, has agreed on a plan of action with regards to the One Plan. All the provincial presidents in the Horizons region have agreed to work on one or two chapters of the One Plan, review them, compare changes made to the Provisional Determinations and decide what rules we can live with and what we will need to appeal. The Federated Farmers Ruapehu team will be reviewing the Land, Living Heritage (which includes biodiversity) and Beds of Rivers and Lakes (which is part of the Water Chapter) chapters. Each provinces analysis will be peer reviewed by three local members as well as the other three provincial residents, regional policy advisor, Tessa Mills, and Federated Farmers in-house lawyer, Richard Gardner. Let the games begin.

Making the case for rates reform in Central Otago - Federated Farmers Central Otago High Country representative, Andrew Paterson, fronted Central Otago District Councillors to explain why he thinks the $11,000 he pays in rates is too much. Andrew explained that apart from having his road graded twice a year, three times in a good year, the services he receives from Council do not dictate this disparity and neither does the amount of money he produces from the farm. Federated Farmers regional policy staff outlined to Council a solution to Andrew's $11,000 dilemma - greater use of targeted rates and a switch from land value to capital value for the general rate. For more information on what we submitted, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.

A shared view in the Queenstown Lakes District - Federated Farmers member, Phil Hunt, outlined his vision for rates reform to Queenstown Lakes District Councillors during the Annual Plan process last Friday. Phil has a dream and it includes all ratepayers paying a fair amount for council services. At the moment, Phil's dream is being shattered by the property value basis for rating and how hard farmers are being hit by their increasing rates bills. However, he made progress on Friday when the Mayor and Councillors broadly agreed that these concerns need to be addressed and indicated that a rates reform process is in the works. Phil and the Federation's regional policy staff are looking forward to working with Council to progress this shared vision through any forthcoming rates review process. For more information on what we submitted, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.

Southland water charges halved - Water users in Southland received some good news last week, when Environment Southland announced a halving of the research and monitoring charge from the level proposed in the Draft Annual Plan. Council has also agreed to undertake consultation with water users to improve the structure and level for the charges in the year ahead. Consultation will help to address the concerns raised by submitters during the Annual Plan process. While the ideal outcome was a deferral of the charges until concerns with the proposal had been ironed out, the result shows the combined effect of strong lobbying from Federated Farmers and our members and a Council that is willing to listen to their community.

Agribusiness review - Rabobank's specialist Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) division has just released the June issue of the New Zealand & Australia agribusiness review, with commentary on the regions economic and agricultural conditions. If you would like to read the full report, please click here.

OCR up - The Reserve Bank increased its Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 0.25 percent to 2.75 percent and signalled more increases to come as the economy strengthens. The accompanying statement was positive about the economy saying that growth is becoming more broadly based and that sharply higher commodity prices are boosting export incomes.  The Reserve Bank's 90 day interest rate projections show a slow and steady track of increases, with the OCR eventually likely to peak at around 6 percent. Higher bank funding costs, a higher proportion of borrowers on floating rates and higher long-term interest rates were noted as mitigating the extent to which the OCR should need to rise, compared to previous cycles. Federated Farmers had asked the Reserve Bank to hold off hiking the OCR too early due to concerns about volatility in the global economy and the impact of higher Government imposed costs, such as the ETS.

Terms of trade strong - Dairy product prices rose by nearly one third, dominating a 10.3 percent rise in the price of exported goods in the March 2010 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's Overseas Trade Indexes. This was the largest quarterly increase in export prices in nearly a decade. With prices for imported goods rising 4.2 percent, the merchandise terms of trade rose 5.9 percent in the March 2010 quarter, following a similar increase of 5.8 percent in the December 2009 quarter. The latest quarterly rise, the largest in 34 years, was due to export prices rising substantially more than import prices. A rise in the terms of trade means that for every dollar of exports sold, a larger volume of imports can be purchased.

Federated Farmers Waikato at Field Days - Federated Farmers Waikato, in arrangement with the New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays Executive, has managed to secure a half hour timeslot on the Village Green stage following the official opening of the 2010 Fieldays at 12 noon Wednesday, 16 June. The Federated Farmers Waikato team will be on stage at 2pm and would like to invite all members to come along and introduce themselves.

Unwanted or expired agrichemical collection - A reminder that the Agrecovery Rural Recycling programme will shortly be holding collections for unwanted or expired agrichemicals in regions throughout New Zealand. Throughout June and July, Agrecovery will be collecting agrichemicals in the Otago/Southland region from Monday, 28 to Wednesday, 30 June and in the Greater Wellington/Manawatu region from Tuesday, 13 to Thursday, 15 July. Booking your chemicals for disposal is easy, simply contact Agrecovery on 0800 247 326 or you can click here to book disposal online. Bookings are required by Friday, 14 June for Otago/Southland and by Thursday, 1 July for Greater Wellington/Manawatu. Further information is available on the Agrecovery website by clicking here.

Federated Farmers feed list - The Federated Farmers feed lists, which include both feed wanted and feed available, can be accessed via the 0800 DROUGHT line (0800 376 844) or by clicking here. The drought line and feed lists are available to both members and non-members of Federated Farmers.

Lunch with the Prime Minister - There is to be a lunch with the Prime Minister, the Hon John Key, on Friday, 25 June as part of the Federated Farmers National Conference ‘One Event'. We would like to thank Woosh Wireless Limited for their sponsorship for this event. The Prime Minister's luncheon is a ticket-only affair, so if you are interested in attending please contact Kimberley Wadsworth clicking here or by calling 0800 327 646

Federated Farmers National Conference ‘One Event' 2010 - The Federated Farmers National Conference ‘One Event' 2010 will be held from Wednesday, 23 June to Friday, 25 June 2010 at Ascot Park Hotel, Corner Tay Street and Racecourse Road, Invercargill. The AGM's for Federated Farmers National Council, Dairy and Meat & Fibre will take place over the three days.  Federated Farmers would also like to invite members to attend the Federated Farmers Dairy and Meat & Fibre joint cocktails, proudly sponsored by Silver Fern Farms and joint dinner, proudly sponsored by Alliance Group Limited, on Wednesday, 23 June from 6pm. To register, please contact Kimberley Wadsworth by clicking here or calling 0800 327 646.

National Conference Plenary Day - The Federated Farmers Plenary Day is to be held on Thursday, 24 June and will encompass a vast range of guest speakers including the Hon Phil Goff, the Hon David Carter, the US Ambassador to New Zealand, David Huebner, Rod Drury, Executive Officer, Xero, Rod Inglis, Chairman, Woosh Wireless Limited and Don Elder, Chief Executive Officer, Solid Energy. Later that evening the Federated Farmers Awards will be held and we would like to thank Ravensdown for sponsoring the Agribusiness Person of the Year award. The following day, Friday, 25 June, there is lunch with the Prime Minister, the Hon John Key. If you are interested in attending any of the events over the three days, please contact Kimberley Wadsworth by clicking here or by calling call 0800 327 646.

Win at National Conference - Federated Farmers would like to thank our sponsors and business partners for supporting National Conference 2010. Several spot prizes including digital cameras, jackets, sports bags, wine and hotel accommodation vouchers will be up for grabs over the three days. Each prize has been kindly donated by our business partners. To be eligible for any of the prizes, you must be there to accept them in person.

Thinking of studying or re-enrolling? - If you are thinking of enrolling to study towards an Open Polytechnic qualification or if you need to re-enrol to continue your study, a reminder that enrolment for trimester two closes on 2 July. For more information, click here or call 0508 650 200. Remember, Federated Farmers members get a 20 percent discount. Click here to download an enrolment form.

Winesonline - This week Winesonline offer a host of quality award winning Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc's from only $7.95. Winesonline also has a small quantity of 2009 Otuwhero Estate Sauvignon Blanc at a great price, so visit winesonline.co.nz today to access these great deals.

More member benefits and offers - To view special discounts exclusive to Federated Farmers members, please call 0800 327 646 or click here to log onto our members only area.

Need staff? - If you need staff or are looking for a job, visit www.ruraljobs.co.nz

Need a contract? - If you need a contract or free legal or employment advice, simply call 0800 327 646.

Contracts, agreements and leases - These include land, stock, contractor, sales and purchase, agreement to grow, log books, access pads, Over Dimension Certificates and employment. Remember, it's a legal requirement to have an employment contract for EVERY employee so if you don't have a current employment agreement, then order one now. Contracts, agreements and leases are available in both electronic and hard copy formats for your convenience. To purchase, call 0800 FARMING or click here.

Quote of the week - "Grubby goose in line of fire". Game and pest management spokesperson, Donald Aubrey, comments after the Hon Kate Wilkinson's announcement around the future of Canada Geese today.