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.

New Zealand's milk production growth is likely to be constrained over the next five years as the ability to change land use will become more difficult and expensive.

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 '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.

Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English said he would not rule out a career in politics when he steps down as chief executive of the farmers' group in July.

My heart sank when I heard about Fonterra's idea to reduce the dairy industry's impact on our environment, writes Sue Kedgley.

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

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.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the company is "eight to 10 years" behind other dairy players overseas when it comes to sustainability.

Every day, millions of tons of inadequately treated sewage, industrial and agricultural waste enters the world's waterways, writes Sam Judd.

A Mid Canterbury herd manager who admitted breaking the tails of at least 154 cows has been sentenced to eight months' home detention and will have to apply to own animals in the future.