Concern and pessimism surrounding the recently released Maxim Institute report on the future of New Zealand's regions has raised some

COMMENT: Already visitors are reporting to the folks back home that Aotearoa is not all it's cracked up to be.

COMMENT: Every week we read in the paper that Greenpeace, the Greens, Fish and Game or Massey's Mike Joy are slagging farmers over water quality, writes Alan Emerson.

Thanks to lobbying by Federated Farmers, the Government has announced relief for quake-hit farmers.

Rain has swept in and saved the summer - and it was perfect.

People are quick to point the finger where drugs are concerned writes Dom George

COMMENT: Donald Trump evidently has a primitive view of international commerce.

Last Thursday, Environment Minister Nick Smith released a consultation document, Clean Water, setting out proposals for improving

We all want to be able to swim in our local rivers when the weather is right, and New Zealand is the perfect place with so many on offer.

Last week my sister and I had a good chat about her plans to buy a house. But we eventually came to the real reason for her call

Jamie Mackay reflects on politicians he has known and interviewed over his radio career. Even the ones who ignore him...

Deputy Mayor Tania McInnes touched a nerve when she suggested last week that perhaps the Far North should look for a new name.

Discussion around the state of water quality in New Zealand is not short of an opinion or two. Yet when it comes to the science, we're

We cannot keep growing our farming impacts indefinitely, writes John Hart.

In "clean, green New Zealand" just 72 per cent of rivers, streams and lakes are considered safe for swimming and it will remain that way for a while.

The Bay people and their environment have been through so much in the past few years, from Wairoa down to Waipawa. The disastrous

COMMENT: The Government's plan to clean up waterways is an attempt to look as though action's being taken, when in reality nothing's happening, says Mark Dye.

Kebab-quaffer Dom George can't work out what a vegan would chow down on after a big night.

A lot of areas of our life are governed by the clock and the calendar - especially our working lives. As a lawyer I am often asked

JB (Whangarei) has written about shopping smarter: "There are many different market places now other than shops and online. Think

Mohair is the fibre harvested from angora goats, and at more than $20 per kilogram it is significantly more valuable than wool from

I am a sheep and beef farmer and was on the farm on Monday the 13th just gone. When Jamie Mackay of The Country radio show rang

The best questions are seldom asked. Try to answer to this one. A while ago we considered amalgamating all five Hawke's Bay councils. No

On arriving back at work after the summer holidays I was asked by the NFR editorial team to write an overview of the year ahead, focusing

The Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2016 was "post truth politics". Not strictly a word but, in the same vein, this year

Thanks to our world class land-based industries Hawke's Bay is a prosperous place. Why will it not remain so? But those industries

Summer - with its lower flows and generally better weather - is when farmers often carry out works in and around waterways. These

The prolonged summer dry should have us all into summer management mode. There are three things that should be well under way. 1

I'm not sure how many people actually still make New Year's resolutions. I'm good at remembering that something I've done was a New

Parts of New Zealand are currently on fire, under water, or dealing with drought or earthquakes. We live in a group of seismically