Maori-controlled, with a Vietnamese connection, one of the country's newest dairy companies does things a little bit differently from the big boys, discovers Jamie Gray.

With the rapid adoption of modern farming technologies, agriculture is an increasingly important part of the economy, writes John Wilson.

Capital growth has always been an important factor in successful dairy farm investment, but it would be unwise for investors to assume land prices always go up.

Fonterra will launch its own infant formula brand in China this year as it looks to grab a slice of the booming market for the product in the Asian superpower.

The discovery of traces of the toxic agricultural substance DCD in New Zealand dairy products sold in China has sparked a major reputation crisis.

We're putting the focus on agriculture this week in the Business Herald.

Dairy giant to pick up the premium it has so far left on the table, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

A Northland dairy farmer is "flabbergasted" by the $40,000 he's been fined for polluting a stream.

Led by dairy products, prices for export commodities surged last month - and this time the rise in world prices was not eaten up by a higher exchange rate.

The Chinese partner of a major Swiss baby formula manufacturer has been accused of deliberately mislabelling milk powder.

Fonterra enjoyed strong earnings in the first half and has raised its payout forecast to farmers for the current year.

Profits have soared 33 per cent at our largest exporter Fonterra, but the dairy giant warns its performance is unlikely to be repeated in the second half of the year.

The onset of drought conditions in the North Island has seen economic confidence plummet in many regions, according to a Westpac McDermott Miller survey.

A West Coast farming expert says he is seeing first-hand the pressures being put on farmers battling to combat the effects of the big dry.

Dairy giant Fonterra has launched a "world-first" bottle that it says will protect milk from light and keep it fresher and tasting better for longer.

The drought gripping most of the country is hitting dairy farmers hard, but soaring export prices will partially offset lost production, economists say.

Peter Cullinane, co-founder of the premium butter manufacturer Lewis Road Creamery, has a dream that one day his artisan butter will be flown to top restaurants worldwide.

Slaughterman Kent Sambells' workload was "hectic" last week as Waikato farmers called him in to destroy ailing cattle and take them away for processing into pet food.

Prime Minister John Key will meet Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff for the first time tomorrow.

It doesn't say much for Prime Minister John Key's working knowledge of the dairy industry that he had to go to Chile to learn it takes seven minutes to milk a cow

A Chilean farmer has given those on the Prime Minister's tour of Latin America an entertaining insight into farming in the country.

At a secret location just north of Auckland, an experiment has started which might alter the face of New Zealand's $12 billion dairy industry.

Sheep and beef farmers may be in for a tough time with profits predicted to halve this season as the full impact of lower lamb prices and widespread drought starts to hit home.

World dairy prices have surged to the highest since June 2011 with the prospect of New Zealand production curtailed by drought.

Drought is likely to shave 0.5 per cent off gross domestic product by the end of the year and take a toll on next year's output as well, says ANZ bank.

Exports fell in the last three months of 2012 in real terms and the impact has been compounded by a decline in what we can buy, by way of imports, for a given quantity of exports.