The FMA is investigating whether the sales and marketing of interest rate swaps by major banks to rural customers may have breached the laws.

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.

Farmers in the Waikato and parts of Northland say they are battling one of the driest summers in memory.

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.

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.

National calls for debt relief as mounting toll of big dry ruins businesses and suicides rise among farmers.

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.

"Somehow he got flattened." The wife of a Tihoi farmer who suffered "bumps and bruises" after being sat on by a cow is still unsure how the accident happened.

A farmer who was seriously injured when a cow kicked him and sat on him near Taupo is now in a stable condition.

A farmer has been seriously injured by a cow near Taupo.

Three banks facing potential legal action from the competition watchdog over their sale of interest rate swap contracts to farmers say they will continue to co-operate with the commission.

Officials in New Zealand's leading oil and gas region are rejecting claims that cows are being allowed to graze on land polluted by waste from mining and fracking operations.