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Explore the latest primary industry news by BusinessDesk. 
Foresters seek head-start to prepare for harvest
Primary Sector

Foresters seek head-start to prepare for harvest

Forest owners and contractors are hoping to start preparing machinery and logging sites ahead of the resumption of harvesting next week. Phil Taylor, president of the New Zealand Forest Owners’ Association, said a lot of good work had been completed in recent weeks developing...

Gavin Evans 21 Apr 2020
Product mix 'saved' Fonterra - Hurrell
Primary Sector

Product mix 'saved' Fonterra - Hurrell

Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said a large product range and diversity of markets was "saving" New Zealand's single largest export earner under the covid-19 global pandemic.“China goes through a hole in the floor in February and we can move those products into retail...

Brent Melville 20 Apr 2020
Rural Equities sells PGG Wrightson stake; Cushing still in
Primary Sector

Rural Equities sells PGG Wrightson stake; Cushing still in

Rural Equities has sold its PGG Wrightson stake at a 15.5 percent premium to what it paid in August. However, the farming manager’s executive chair David Cushing, who’s also a PGW director, has kept his 2.7 percent stake in the rural services firm through his family’s H&G vehi...

Paul McBeth 17 Apr 2020
Essential food processors take massive wage subsidies
Primary Sector

Essential food processors take massive wage subsidies

Primary food processors deemed essential under government’s lockdown restrictions, have received wage subsidies totalling about $90 million.The Ministry of Social Development’s online tool, developed to promote transparency of payments under the scheme, shows that the two major m...

Brent Melville 17 Apr 2020
Platforms like StockX may relegate livestock sales yards to the past
Primary Sector

Platforms like StockX may relegate livestock sales yards to the past

Rebecca Howard 16 Apr 2020
Silver Fern Farms' profit boosted by Chinese demand
Primary Sector

Silver Fern Farms' profit boosted by Chinese demand

Brent Melville 15 Apr 2020
Strict limits as some wood processing resumes
Primary Sector

Strict limits as some wood processing resumes

Gavin Evans 15 Apr 2020
Meat sector extends season, may cart stock between islands
Primary Sector

Meat sector extends season, may cart stock between islands

Brent Melville 14 Apr 2020
Processors push wooden construction as part of covid-19 recovery
Primary Sector

Processors push wooden construction as part of covid-19 recovery

Gavin Evans 14 Apr 2020
Appetite for business, mortgage holiday schemes fades
Primary Sector

Appetite for business, mortgage holiday schemes fades

Jenny Ruth 14 Apr 2020
Partial closure shouldn't undermine OceanaGold
Primary Sector

Partial closure shouldn't undermine OceanaGold

Brent Melville 12 Apr 2020
Talley’s sues nutriceuticals firm in mussels spat
Primary Sector

Talley’s sues nutriceuticals firm in mussels spat

Victoria Young 10 Apr 2020
Forester urges focus on restart, jobs
Primary Sector

Forester urges focus on restart, jobs

Gavin Evans 09 Apr 2020
Two Fonterra Edendale workers test positive for covid-19
Primary Sector

Two Fonterra Edendale workers test positive for covid-19

Rebecca Howard 08 Apr 2020
Govt to consider levy on log exports to ensure home supply
Primary Sector

Govt to consider levy on log exports to ensure home supply

Gavin Evans 08 Apr 2020
Meat Industry Association wants 2-metre rule adjusted
Primary Sector

Meat Industry Association wants 2-metre rule adjusted

Rebecca Howard 08 Apr 2020
Dairy product price index posts first gain in five auctions
Primary Sector

Dairy product price index posts first gain in five auctions

Margreet Dietz 08 Apr 2020
Seasonal workers face heightened insecurity as cyclone batters Pacific
Primary Sector

Seasonal workers face heightened insecurity as cyclone batters Pacific

Brent Melville 08 Apr 2020
Foresters, processors readying for restart
Primary Sector

Foresters, processors readying for restart

Gavin Evans 06 Apr 2020
Pork industry works with MPI to solve pig surplus issue
Primary Sector

Pork industry works with MPI to solve pig surplus issue

Brent Melville 06 Apr 2020
Queues grow for meat processing space
Primary Sector

Queues grow for meat processing space

Brent Melville 06 Apr 2020
Cargo planes starting to fill bellies
Primary Sector

Cargo planes starting to fill bellies

Brent Melville 03 Apr 2020
Letting butchers process pigs 'not enough' - pork industry
Primary Sector

Letting butchers process pigs 'not enough' - pork industry

Brent Melville 03 Apr 2020
Tissue maker confident of fibre supply amid forestry lockdown
Primary Sector

Tissue maker confident of fibre supply amid forestry lockdown

Gavin Evans 02 Apr 2020
Riley Kennedy
Riley Kennedy

Senior Journalist

Riley Kennedy joined BusinessDesk in 2022 and covers New Zealand’s primary sector, with a focus on the country’s agribusinesses and the broader food and fibre economy. He won the DairyNZ Industry Award at the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators Awards in 2024, and was named Emerging Journalist of the Year by the New Zealand Shareholders Association in 2022. Riley previously worked as a business specialist at the Otago Daily Times and holds a diploma in journalism from Wintec.

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articles by Riley

Popular in Primary Sector
1
Receivers sell three farms out of mega dairy collapse
Victoria Young 5:31pm
2
Another sawmill shutters operations over energy costs
Oliver Lewis 5:01pm
3
Dairy group in receivership owes BNZ $36.5m
John Anthony 5:04pm
4
High returns and decarbonisation promised in MyFarm's solar seduction
Pattrick Smellie 6:17pm
5
Fonterra plant closures might be on the cards
Riley Kennedy 2:00pm