Good news for the wool industry. Wasn't such good news in December of last year when Kainga Ora, the country's largest landlord, put out tenders for new carpet and underlay, and specifically said wool suppliers need not apply.

So that was in December of 2024 then in January 2025, the agency opened its tender process to wool carpet suppliers, allowing a direct price and offering comparison. Remember when the representative for the wool industry said that wool suppliers, wool carpet suppliers, hadn't even been able to tender? For more than a decade, Kainga Ora had been using nylon and that was that. You weren't even allowed to say, look, actually, we can give you a really good price. It was just thanks, but no thanks.

And that was still the policy back in December of last year. in January, Kainga Ora opened itself up to what the wool industry could offer. At the time, chief executive Matt Crockett said Kainga Ora had traditionally used solution-dyed nylon carpet due to the durability and price. But yesterday came the announcement that Kainga Ora will use wool carpet in new state homes as of July.

The Government has played a huge part in this decision. Back in December of last year, as I say, Kainga Ora said no. Wool providers were specifically excluded in the call for tenders. That was because it was believed that wool was an extra $2-400 more per home than nylon. But after a directive to about 130 agencies in April that government buildings and government suppliers would use wool where possible, Kainga Ora changed its mind. Said, feel free to make a submission. Feel free to give us a price. And now New Zealand sheep farmers will be providing the carpet for Kainga Ora homes as of July. About 4500 new state houses will be affected, will be expected to be fitted out in the next three years.

Now I'm a huge fan of wool. I've been harping on about it for nearly a year now after having wool carpet put into my place. And surely its benefits outweigh the fact that it's slightly more expensive than the nylon – or rather it was. You know the $2-400 was before the wool carpet providers were able to actually come up with a price for Kainga Ora. They may well have sharpened their pencils. We won't know because the total value of the contract is commercially sensitive and can't be disclosed, according to Kainga Ora. So we don't know but you'd imagine that it's at least competitive with the nylon. And when you look at the whole of life of the carpet, you may well see that it's cheaper in the long run, better value in the long run than the nylon. The natural qualities allow wool to dampen sound, absorb pollutants. They contribute to healthier indoor environments by regulating humidity and improving air quality. So in terms of whole of life costs, sustainability, and health benefits, it ticks all the boxes.

So yay for the government directive. Yay for New Zealand's sheep farmers. Yay for the durability and environmentally superior qualities of all carpet. It's got to be a win for everyone, doesn't it?

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The largest agricultural expo in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the largest business expos in the Southern Hemisphere, has opened its gates this morning, and exhibitors are ready to do business.

That hasn't always been the case in Fieldays’ 57 year history – the rural economy has had its ebbs and flows over the years, and Fieldays in Hamilton has felt them. Confidence has waxed and waned, but not this year. This year, you've got the Massey Ferg’s descending on the Tron in their droves. This year the feeling is bullish, according to Richard Lindroos, the CEO of the National Fieldays.

“They say down here it's a bit of a positive vibe going on. Everything's going the right direction. We have certainty now in terms of where the prices are and the forecasts are pretty good, so we expect the rural community to open up the wallets at Fieldays. I think you're going to see those large capital expenditure, and the more certainty you have from the farming community, the better it will be. So our exhibitors down here, and we have over 1200, are looking forward to gates opening at 8am today. We go right through to Saturday. Saturday is Super Saturday, so I'm looking forward to even the townies coming down.”

Absolutely. It's an amazing event. I've had the privilege of going a couple of times —working and as a spectator— and it’s enormous amounts of fun, and enormous amounts of business is done in the good years. And as Richard referred to when he was talking to Mike Hosking this morning, he's expecting the wallets to be open, because there have been good prices in the agricultural sector for the farmers, and also one of the big ticket items in the Government's 2025 Budget was ‘Investment boost’. The facility that allows businesses to deduct 20% of a new assets value from that year's taxable income on top of normal depreciation.

There was a good example in the Herald: let's say a company invests in a machine worth $100,000, or a farmer if you will, that depreciates over 10 years, assuming a 10% straight line depreciation rate. Previously the company would have been able to deduct $10,000 worth of depreciation each year from its taxable income. Under investment boost, it could make a $20,000 upfront deduction, followed by $8,000 in depreciation deductions each year, including in year one. So you can see that that would have an impact. The Government hopes the change will significantly increase productivity by encouraging businesses to invest in new assets now, rather than waiting for the economy to improve.

You might have heard that yesterday when we were talking the solar power interest-free loan from ASB for farmers to invest in solar power technology. We had a farmer who rang in, he had actually got his loan through ANZ, but he said he'd been looking at solar power for a while and he just wasn't in a position to make that kind of upfront investment. This year he can and has.

So there's more money going on farm and into farmer's pockets. The investment boost, it is hoped, will see farmers and other businesses investing in new technology to allow for increased productivity. Is that what's going to happen? If you're heading to Fieldays, are you going there with the express aim to invest in new technology, technology you might have had your eye on for a while but you haven't been in a position to do anything about it until prices improved, and until you gets a commitment from the government like investment boost. Does investment boost, now you've had time to let it settle, mean that you are going to be investing in the kind of technology that's going to boost your productivity?

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