The Weekly Hotwire

03/10/2025

🌾 The Weekly Hotwire is here! | 1 October 2025 Edition 🌾

This week, we’re tackling some big conversations and bold innovations across the rural sector:

💥 Time for Councils to Get Real
Farmers are tired of being buried in red tape. It’s time for local councils to take a pragmatic, common-sense approach that supports progress rather than stalls it.

🌿 AI & Crop Health – The Future is Now
A new tool combines artificial intelligence and spectrometry to give real-time insights into plant nutrient levels. A game-changer for growers wanting precision without the guesswork!

🌊 River + Farm: Stu Muir’s Balancing Act
Can productivity and conservation co-exist? Waikato farmer Stu Muir says yes, and he’s showing how it can be done with deep care for the land and long-term thinking.

🎧 PLUS: Our latest podcast episode is live - tune in for unfiltered conversations with the people shaping rural New Zealand.

📩 Catch the full newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/fa033907c517/the-weekly-hotwire-13051116

🔗 Subscribe so you never miss a beat: https://theweeklyhotwire.co.nz

💬 What’s your take on council over-regulation or the role of AI on-farm? Drop your thoughts in the comments ⬇️

26/09/2025

🚨 ETS forestry “fix” - or just more farmland at risk?

The Government is celebrating its ETS forestry changes, but the fine print tells a different story. Yes, blanket conversions of top dairy, cropping and finishing country are off the table - but up to 15,000 hectares of Class 6 land can still go into pine every year. That’s not marginal land. That’s prime breeding country. And with no cap at all on Class 7 and 8, vast swathes of hill country remain wide open for carbon farms.

Carbon farming has its place when integrated into a mixed system - shelter, erosion control, income streams for farmers. But what we’re seeing isn’t balance. It’s overseas corporations plastering pine to offset pollution elsewhere, hollowing out rural communities and food production.

If you care about New Zealand's export revenue and the significant value farming contributes to our economy, then subscribe here: https://theweeklyhotwire.co.nz/

In This edition of The Weekly Hotwire: we take a look at bee genetics, an American beef story with Kiwi lessons and recognition for one of our leading food scientists.

👉 Read more here: https://mailchi.mp/8a923c9ee14c/the-weekly-hotwire-13051071

29/08/2025

🌾 Farmers have to constantly adapt, from adverse weather to shifting markets.

But the real challenge? Policies that don’t reflect life on the land.

From trade deals and carbon credits to freshwater rules and infrastructure delays, the decisions made in Wellington (and beyond) are shaping rural futures. It’s time those decisions better supported the people who feed and fuel New Zealand.

📬 Stay connected to what’s happening in ag policy, science, technology and in the paddock.
Sign up for the Weekly Hotwire 👉https://tailwindmedia.co.nz

15/08/2025

https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/134743/angus-kebbell-talks-fed-farmers-dairy-boss-about-pressures-they-are-facing-and

Angus Kebbell talks to Fed Farmers dairy boss about the pressures they are facing and how they are using their new influence in Government to push their wish-lists

13/08/2025

🚜 This Week in The Weekly Hotwire

🐚 $10k Mystery for Oyster Farmers
Mahurangi oyster farmers get unexpected $10,000 payments - but no one’s saying why. After years battling sewage-linked norovirus outbreaks, is this genuine support or just hush money?

💧 Red Tape Stopped in Waikato
Government steps in to prevent 2,800 dairy farms - producing 20% of NZ’s primary exports from being tied up in costly water management rules.

🐄 Genetics Win for Beef Farmers
A new breeding tool from the UK could help Kiwi beef producers lift performance and make smarter herd decisions.

📩 Catch all the details in this week’s The Weekly Hotwire.
https://mailchi.mp/4728e1e77d98/the-weekly-hotwire-13050587
Subscribe here: https://tailwindmedia.co.nz/

26/06/2025

The Government’s latest moves to curb the large-scale conversion of productive farmland into carbon-focused pine plantations mark a long-awaited response to a problem that rural New Zealand has been warning about for years.

Read all about it and more here: https://mailchi.mp/tailwindmedia.co.nz/the-weekly-hotwire-13050018
You can also sign up to The Weekly Hotwire here: https://tailwindmedia.co.nz/

13/06/2025

Fieldays was a great success, tills were ringing and the sentiment was positive! New government incentives were announced which will give farming a shot in the arm - catch a couple of the highlights here:

http://eepurl.com/jg0t2E

I’ve just returned from two days at Fieldays, and the difference from last year was striking. There was real energy across the board, especially at the machinery sites. They were humming. The buzz may have had something to do with the Government’s new tax incentive, which allows farmers and grow...

09/05/2025

Is Methane really the climate villain, and is farming really the problem? Is it time to rethink methane in New Zealand?
Have a read: https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/133224/progress-methane-reduction-not-only-possible-it-being-achieved-scale-california

Progress on methane reduction is not only possible, it is being achieved at scale in California where a range of techniques are successfully deployed, many of which could work well here

04/04/2025

The Government’s recent announcement on changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) represents a significant shift in how farmland can be converted to exotic forestry.

These changes, set to take effect in October 2025, aim to curb the widespread conversion of productive farmland into exotic plantations while still allowing for sustainable afforestation. It’s time to put the axe to whole farms going into carbon farming!

Get the latest from The Weekly Hotwire here: http://eepurl.com/jbEuws

Sign up to the weekly journal here: www.tailwindmedia.co.nz

The Weekly Hotwire. A weekly e-journal promoting the science and technology advancements of New Zealand's primary sector.