Rabobank Best of The Country - December 4, 2021

This week on the Best of The Country, Jamie Mackay caught up with Rabobank's ag analyst Genevieve Steven, for a look at the bank's Q4 Beef Quarterly Report.

This week's top interviews were:

Winston Peters:

We asked the NZ First leader if Christopher Luxon was a "reset" or a "Back to the John Key Future" leader for the National Party. We also looked at the "Mickey Mouse" traffic light system and the threat the Omicron variant posed to the world.

Ray Grubb:

With the price of carbon this week reaching $68/tonne in the first auction post-COP26 (up 172 per cent in the past two years), we asked the chairman of Fish and Game NZ if there was a better way of mitigating GHG emissions than planting good pastoral land in pine trees.

Genevieve Steven:

Rabobank's ag analyst commented on the bank's latest Q4 Beef Quarterly report - US Beef Contraction Driving Global Tightness. It was good news for Kiwi farmers with the prospects of strong demand supporting upward pressure on prices.

Christopher Luxon:

In his capacity as the new National Party leader, Christopher Luxon made his first appearance on The Country this week. In this "get to know Christopher" interview we covered his seven houses, being a Christian, liking country music, his view on farming and farmers, Simon Bridges, Judith Collins, Todd Muller, Barbara Kuriger, Penny Simmonds, and who were his favourite politicians.

Jane Smith:

This week, the North Otago farmer and award-winning environmentalist was recently back from walking the Routeburn track with a bunch of North Island urban dwellers. She was buoyed by their positive views on farming. We also looked at the sky-rocketing price of fertiliser and a change at the top of the National Party.

Listen below: