Rabobank Best of The Country: July 8, 2023

File photo / Alan Gibson / NZH

This week on the Best of The Country, Jamie Mackay caught up with Rabobank’s Senior Strategist - Global Economics and Markets, Ben Picton, for a yarn about deglobalisation, demographics and sustainability.

The week's top interviews were:

Christopher Luxon:

This week we caught up with National’s leader ahead of his keynote address to the PINZ Summit, to discuss his sales pitch to the rural sector, the cost-of-living crisis, whether the second half of 2023 will be worse than the first six months, whether the Nats are in danger of getting no List MPs if Act polls well, and why can’t he fill the Dunedin Town Hall like Winston!

Tim Dangen:

We continued our series on “Old Young Farmers of the Year” with one of the youngest, the 2022 Grand Final winner (in Whangarei). We looked back on his challenging year with the Cloak of Knowledge and profile the contestants in this year’s Grand Final coming - his sister Emma Poole, Lisa Kendall, Mac Williams, Patrick Crawshaw, Nick and Peter O’Connor and Hugh Jackson.

Damien O’Connor:

We caught up with the Minister of Agriculture and Trade, following his address to the PINZ Summit in Wellington. We asked about his sales pitch to the primary sector, the recent successful trade trip to China, and who was left in the Labour caucus to help the Prime Minister.

Ben Picton:

We headed to Rabobank’s Sydney office where the bank’s Senior Strategist - Global Economics and Markets - elaborated on the three key themes (deglobalisation, demographics and sustainability) from his presentation to the PINZ Summit.

Tom O’Sullivan:

The GM Advocacy - Campaign For Wool (NZ) - said the decision to specify plastic carpets in 600 schools was utterly hypocritical to the environmental and climate change agenda the government was pushing. He also reckoned it missed an opportunity to support the rural community – one which had been heavily burdened with compliance and regulations to support the same said agenda.

Listen below: