The Country

The chairman of the Alliance Group on the YES vote to the Dawn Meats deal. It was an overwhelming mandate - 88% of the shares on issue voted and, of those, 87% backed the deal. Ultimately, it was a vindication of the board’s decision to partner with Dawn. But was it Hobson’s choice? And what will the deal do to solve the overcapacity issue in the red meat industry?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We catch up with the Prince of the Provinces in Sydney, where he’s “promoting opportunities for investment and collaboration in the development of New Zealand’s natural resources”. It’s top of the agenda during three upcoming international mining and geothermal conferences, the Resources Minister says. We also debate the Alliance and Fonterra votes and lament the mega-strikes this week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2025 Share Farmers of the Year encourage others to enter the 2026 NZ Dairy Industry Awards.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our UK Farming correspondent comments on the British Farming Awards, the autumn harvest and planting, drought-proofing and a “wartime-scale overhaul” to avoid a food crisis, plus what do you do with a problem like Prince Andrew and Fergie?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamie Mackay talks to David Seymour, Riley Kennedy, Pete Turner, Graeme Williams, and Phil Duncan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Deputy Prime Minister, and Act Party leader, comments on the quarterly CPI Inflation Index  - 3% up from 2.7% - with the leading contributors being local council rates and energy costs. Plus, with two big farmer votes coming up, why is Winston Peters meddling with his nationalistic views? We also look at politically motivated mega-strikes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BusinessDesk’s senior rural reporter has been watching the Alliance Group vote, plus we look at his excellent piece on excess capacity in the red meat industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We ask a large Alliance shareholder, and son of a former chairman, for his thoughts on today’s big vote on the proposed Dawn Meats deal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An East Coast farmer and poet on why A&P shows are the most quintessential of all heartland rural events.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s another wild, wet and windy week in store as we head towards the windiest weekend of the year - Labour Weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.