Thousands of sheep in Australia are believed to have died after eating a poisonous plant that makes them “bash their heads on posts and rocks until they crack open”.

Labour's Shadow Minister of Finance David Parker looked the part in delivering his party's monetary policy.

The Commerce Commission says farmers concerned about their interest rate swaps have until the end of the month to contact the regulator otherwise they may miss out on future compensation claims.

French food giant Danone has entered an agreement to buy New Zealand dairy processing firms Sutton Group and Gardians.

Home owners, sitting on a near tripling of house prices over the past 20 years, are largely immune to warnings that the housing market is overheated.

Farmers are being cautioned to prepare contingency plans amid early signs of a large El Nino climate event this year.

Fonterra's farmer members will be offered two opportunities to lock in the price paid for a percentage of their milk in the 2014/15 season.

A popular farming publication wants farmers to lock out fishers and hunters over what it calls an anti-dairying attitude by their governing body.

A 'really, really sore' Waikato farmer had to walk 45 minutes for help after she was stung at least 50 times in the head when she stepped in a 'big hole of wasps'.

Dairy pervades the economy and the cultural landscape - our obsession with flat whites, free milk in schools and even our political scandals, as witnessed last week.

Parts of the Waikato are as dry or drier than during last year's severe drought.

John Morell is one of a rapidly dying breed - rural owners who train their own racehorse from a farm.

How do you stop truckloads of unsaleable food from going to the dump - and turn it into something useful? Put a few thousand piggies in the middle.

Economists say a combination of rising international dairy prices and favourable farming conditions bode well for New Zealand's economic growth.

So little sunlight is being shone on how we are dealing with water and emissions ...

Fonterra has raised 1.25 billion renminbi in its second Chinese currency denominated bond, which it will use to repay debt and expand operations in China.

We must work together and prioritise the restoration of waterways over short-term commercial gain, writes Dame Anne Salmond.

All commercial users of water should face a charge, writes Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons. This would acknowledge public ownership of the rivers and create funds to invest in repairing them.

Many city-dwellers may still peg rural women as domestic types, but modern farming women are on the land or in the office, running big businesses and driving the exports that are the backbone of NZ's economy.

Australia's largest dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn (MG) looks set to follow Fonterra in adopting a specialised financial instrument to expand its capital base while retaining exclusive farmer ownership and control.