The Country Full Show: Friday, September 11, 2026

Jamie Mackay talks to Chris Brandolino, Richard Dawkins, George Dodson, Hugh Jackson, Todd Clark, and Barry Soper.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Country with Jamie Mackay and Isuzu Utes. Get a
double cab D-Max from $ 55, 990.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Newstalk ZB. Harry got up, dressed all in black.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Went down to.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
The station and he never.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
Came back.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Good afternoon, New Zealand. Welcome to the country. I'm Jamie Mackay.
9-11 our time, or 11th of the 9th our time.
Of course, America will, I was going to say celebrate,
not celebrate, commemorate 9-11 tomorrow, their time. Chris Brandolino today.
I was going to say native New Yorker, but he's upstate,

(01:01):
I think, New York. He was right at the coalface
on 9-11. We're going to talk to him about that
and also this Super El Nino, which is already setting
record numbers. Richard Dawkins, Federated Farmers Spokesperson for Climate Change,
Meat and Wool. He's giving Labour a bit of a
pat on the back for it. agreeing not to campaign

(01:22):
on pricing agricultural emissions for the first time in 25 years.
Today's farmer panel, 2024, 2025, young farmers of the year,
George Dodson and Hugh Jackson. One's a dairy farmer, one's
a sheep and beef farmer. Todd Clark's our guy in
the US. We're going to go over and have a
yarn to him 25 years on. And Barry Soper, he's

(01:44):
got a great story to tell about 9-11 as well.
And has it been a better week for the Nats?
What's wrong with Chippy? Why is he not firing? And
why is Winston singing Johnny Cash at the opening of
the City Rail Link in Auckland? Mind boggles. Let's kick
it off with Earth Sciences New Zealand's Chris Brandolino. Chris,

(02:07):
you were literally at the coalface on 9-11. Good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Good afternoon. Yeah, it's really a somber day. Hard to
believe it's been 25 years. We can do the math.
I was 26 years old at the time. and watch
that second plane go into the World Trade Center, the
second building, live. At the time, the first plane went
into the first building. World Trade Center was thought to be,

(02:33):
you know, no one really knew what was going on.
No one certainly didn't think it was a, well, at
least publicly, a terrorist attack. You know, maybe it was
some freak accident. But then when you saw, or when
I saw that second plane go into the other building,
it removed all doubt. and that certainly changed the world,
you know?

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Hey, Chris, when you say you saw it live, were
you watching it on telly, or were you actually on
the ground?

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh, no, yeah, I was in Syracuse, New York, which
is about a 50-minute plane ride from New York City. So, yeah,
I was in upstate New York. I was not in
New York City at the time. But, you know, what's weird, Jamie,
and I think I may have mentioned this in years past,
and this may sound a bit, I don't know how
people may interpret this, but For about 15 years after that,

(03:18):
like an honest 15 years after that, even though I
was not in New York City, as I say, I
was a 55-minute plane ride away, I still got freaked
out every time I heard a low-flying aircraft. It was
so bizarre, and I can only imagine how people would
be affected who were actually in New York City and

(03:39):
actually witnessed that and the trauma they would still be
dealing with. So Yeah, that's my little story to that
tragic event. Yeah, it was to my wife. She was
a schoolteacher at the time. And, you know, she basically
had a stint on that and not saying anything to
the students. They were, you know, eight, nine years old,
quite young, 10 years old. So, you know, obviously talking

(04:02):
with her, I think we were dating, we were being
married at the time. So, yeah, it was, yeah, so
many things go through your mind when you reflect back.
And it doesn't seem like a quarter century, but it was.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Changed the world forever. Let's move on to the Super
El Nino. This is setting. I saw an interesting interview.
I think it might have been with some climate expert
on 3 News or something last night. I just flicked
past it. But very sober, sobering reading or listening around
the numbers were already setting records.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, look, this is in terms of where we are.
So El Nino has a life cycle, right? It begins,
it strengthens, it matures, it decays, right? That's the arc
of the life cycle. And where we are in that arc,
we're in the strengthening phase. We haven't reached the peak.
And when you look at where we are in its
life cycle or in its arc, it's beating anything before that.

(04:58):
So I was just reading this post from... NOAA in
the United States, and they're giving it a 75% chance
that this will be the strongest El Nino event ever recorded.
So a 3 out of 4 chance. So that means
a 25% chance it doesn't reach all-time record intensity. But

(05:19):
even if it doesn't, even if that quote-unquote good scenario,
that 25% unlikely scenario, even if that were to occur,
it's still going to be comparable on par with the
historically strongest event ever. So At the very minimum, it'll
be on par or be comparable to the strongest events
we've seen in modern history going back 50, 100 years, whatever.

(05:43):
And then a more likely scenario is that it beats
that out. So those are your two ranges, your two endpoints.
And we're already seeing the effects. I know some people
are like, well, it's been raining in Hawke's Bay or
it's been raining in Auckland. Where's El Nino? Again, it's
a background thing. This is not a storm you see
coming from the horizon, but we are seeing... I'm just
looking at rainfall here. For the past 15 days, two weeks,

(06:04):
down across the South Island, and it's blue on the map.
It is really wet. It has been really wet, unusually wet,
for much of the South Island. Now, that rain has
spilled over to the eastern part of the South Island,
which is actually good news because one of the things
we're thinking is that as we get deeper into spring,
we're going to have to be mindful of dryness. So

(06:24):
that is true for eastern parts of both islands, in
particular the North Island, but not exclusively South. and northern
parts of both islands. That's where the greatest odds for
dryness are expected to be. And wind is a true
hallmark of El Nino. We're likely to see a pretty
dry period, Jamie, over the next wee while. We're going
to see, I think, a really strong period of warm temperatures.

(06:48):
If you and I are talking next Friday, which I
hope we are, we're probably going to be looking down
the barrel of a really sharp two- or three-day period
of very warm temperatures with some wind. and that may
increase the fire risk. But those are the sorts of
episodes and things we'll be seeing probably with some regularity
as we move through the next several weeks.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Okay, just to finish on, and referring back to that
interview I quickly flicked over, they were talking about the
wider global ramifications of El Nino and things like even
the water level in the Panama Canal and the reduced
flow of ships through there. So it's just, it's all encompassing.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
Look, exactly.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Look, in... Look, I'll just say this. We make our outlooks,
and I think people know this, but just to make
it for the avoidance of doubt, we're doing our best
to give a really high-quality outlook. But we're not perfect.
If we were, we'd be driving really nice cars, but
we're not. And so, look, if El Nino doesn't prove

(07:47):
to be overly disruptive where you are, that's awesome. But
even if that's the case, to your point, there will
be implications globally because if water levels are really low
in the Panama Canal, that's going to affect shipping. If
there's drought in other areas of the world, that's going
to affect food prices. So whether it's direct or indirect,

(08:07):
we're all going to feel at some level, and some
feel more than others, and others it'll be more of
a mild effect. So let's hope for the mild effect,
of course, but I think there's enough reason to really
have heightened awareness And we'll see what happens. Today, literally,
we just got our hands on new climate data. It
comes out every month on the 11th of each month.
And as soon as the call is done, I'm actually

(08:29):
going to dive into that and see what the messaging
is for the next several months. So, yeah, I hear
the music. I hear Don Henley. So back to you, Jamie.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah, New York Minute, one of the unofficial anthems of 9-11.
Chris Brandolino, thanks for your reminiscing on 9-11 and the
update on Super El Nino.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Appreciate it, buddy. Thank you, Jamie.

Speaker 7 (08:47):
There we go.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
He does a great job, doesn't he? Yes, talking about
El Nino, it was getting very dry in parts of
Canterbury and Marlborough. They were getting quite worried, but they've
had a really good rain apparently. Well, that's what Doug
Avery told me. So I'm going to go to Marlborough
next and catch up with a young man who's doing
a relatively young man who's doing a really good job,

(09:10):
I think, as Federated Farmers Spokesperson for Climate Change and
Meat and Wool. His name is Richard Dawkins. Talking about
young farmers, we've got a couple of crackers lined up,
George Dodson and Hugh Jackson, 2024 and 2025 Young Farmers
of the Year. I must catch up, by the way,
with the 2026 Young Farmer of the Year, Tom Slee.

(09:33):
What a great farming family he comes from. I was
in Australia when Tom won the title. I haven't chatted
to him yet, so I must do that. Todd Clark's
our guy in the US. I want to get his
take on 9-11 and, of course.
What's happening over there with beef prices, and more importantly,
what's happening over there with fuel prices. Barry Soper's going

(09:54):
to wrap the country.

Speaker 8 (09:56):
There's a hole in the world tonight.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
There's a cloud of.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Fear and sorrow.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Richard Dawkins is Federated Farmers Meat and Wool Chair. He's
also the climate change spokesperson. Now, Richard, you're farming in Marlborough.
Doug Avery sent me a message yesterday saying it had
some really good rain and with the Super El Nino looming,
and it definitely is, you would welcome every drop of it.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Yeah, hi, Jamie. Yeah, funnily enough, I was actually out
at Doug's farm Just last week, Fraser's placed now, and
it was looking a real picture. So, yeah, now we
had 52 mils the other day, which will certainly see
the pasture growing. We're up over 10 degrees soil temperature now,
so things are humming along.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
What did you make of Labour's ag policy announcement earlier
this week that they would not campaign on pricing agricultural emissions?
That's number one. And the other one is they're fully committed,
like the National Party, to the Paris Agreement.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yeah, and well, there was a third part to that too, Jamie,
in that they were going to look at the role
of pine trees or exotics in the emissions trading scheme
and really trying to slow down or stop those whole
farm conversions into carbon. So, look, the whole announcement was
really well received. And I can't understate the significance of this.

(11:41):
For 25 years, they've been campaigning on pricing agricultural emissions.
So this is a real leap forward and full credit
to the team.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Who do you give the credit to in the Labour Party? Now,
Jo Luxton is obviously doing good work behind the scenes.
I felt she got hung out to dry because this
was good, positive policy from Labour heading into an election.
They released it a day or two after that Q &
A rural leaders debate. She was openly mocked because she

(12:11):
had no policy. They threw her under the bus.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, that was a real shame. But look, she must
be really effective behind the scenes because she's orchestrated the
most positive Labour agricultural policy in a long, long time.
So credit to her and also Deborah Russell. She's their
climate change spokesperson. We obviously have engagements with the party

(12:35):
at our Labour Party forum and Yeah, when I first
met Deborah, she had some, you know, reasonably out there
ideas around agricultural emissions. But what gave me hope was
she was very thoughtful and very considered and very analytical.
And as the years have gone by, she's, you know,
landed on a really science-based policy that is good for

(12:57):
New Zealand. So, yeah, shout out to Deborah and Joe
and Chippy as well, of course.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Yeah, well, I think Chippy does deserve some credit for
this because he recognised immediately after they got slaughtered in
the 2023 election that they'd got it badly wrong with
the rural community, with Damien and David Parker, Hewaka, Ekanowa,
you name everything they did that pissed farmers off. So
I think he's a centrist politician at heart. And I'm

(13:25):
not suggesting for a moment that rural New Zealand is
going to vote Labour because or centre-left. But as you
point out, this is a good start.

Speaker 8 (13:34):
Oh, it is.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
And look, for years we've had Labour Party spokespeople on
your show saying if we don't price emissions, then our
products will get chucked off the shelf and companies and
countries won't buy them. And isn't it hugely ironic? You
now have Labour saying they won't price emissions and we're
receiving record generational returns for our products.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Did you hear, per chance, Mark Delatour, I think on
Wednesday's show from Open Country Dairy, he certainly created a
bit of a stir with what he had to say.
He said, forget about Paris, there's plenty of markets for
our products on the world stage.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah, well I do often question when you have that
crossover between what the market wants and then suddenly saying
we should legislate for this stuff. If the market's demanding it,
then leave it up to the market. Our You know,
farmers are very well known for responding to incentives, so
let's take care of it that way.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Exactly. The market is always the market, and you bang on.
If there's going to be a premium for low-emissions products
or zero-emissions products in the future, farmers will find a
way to meet it.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Well, if you actually legislate for something and it becomes compulsory,
there's actually less motivation for these companies to pay a premium.
because we're all going to have to do it anyway.
If it's a real significant point of difference, then they
will pay an incentive and farmers will follow suit, right?

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Hey, Richard Dawkins, thanks for some of your time today
on The Country. Gee, he waka e kanoa, I think
back upon it. It is so 2023, isn't it? Thank
God that's in the rear vision mirror.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Well, I agree, Jamie. It was such a big point
for the industry. Not only you had abysmal returns at
the time, but you had this emissions pricing. And it
was going to put 20% of sheep and beef farmers
out of business. That's how it was going to lower
our emissions profile. Those farmers would be uneconomic and it
would be planted in forestry. It's really frustrating to hear

(15:35):
people say, no, no. 20% of sheep farmers were simply
going to see a reduction of income. That wasn't the case. 100%
of them were going to see a reduction of income
because you were going to be paying the emissions tax. 20%
were going out of business, and that is completely unacceptable.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, and try as he might, Damien O'Connor cannot rewrite
history on that one. Richard Dawkins out of Marlborough. Hope
you keep getting some spring rains.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
Appreciate it. Thanks, Jamie.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Thanks, Richard. Young farmer. running the cutter at Federated Farmers,
spokesperson for climate change and meat and wool. We're going
to continue with the young farmer theme after the break.
Today's farmer panel, George Dodson and Hugh Jackson. Hi, Jamie. Sorry,

(16:24):
I didn't get to this text while I was talking
to Chris Brandolino. Ask Chris if he saw Trump. We're
going to talk about Trump with our US farming correspondent,
Todd Clark. Died-on-the-wall Republican, but he's got to be embarrassed
by the way Trump's behaving now. He's got himself into
a war he can't get out of, and he's telling
straight-out porky pies lies about 9-11 and where he was.

(16:51):
Here's another one. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?
Country music by Alan Jackson about September 11. Great song. Yes,
I know that. I've even got it on my button bar,
so we'll play a wee bit of that for you
as we reminisce 25 years on minus a day, effectively,
because it's 9-11 in the States tomorrow, about 9-11. But

(17:12):
up next, it is the Farmer Panel. Welcome back to
the country as we reflect on 9-11. Just teeing up
my next two guests, former Young Farmers of the Year, 2024, 2025,

(17:36):
George Dodson, Hugh Jackson, and I said to them, Ophir,
how old are you guys? And the reason I asked
you that, and I'll start with you, George, is because
you probably don't remember where you were and what you
were doing when 9-11 happened. Good afternoon.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie. I definitely do not remember. I
was only a few months old when it happened, but
mum always tells me the story of how I was
sitting on her lap as a baby when it came
on TV, so... Yeah, certainly they remember it.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Well, Hugh, you won the Young Farmer of the Year
Grand Final the year after George. I take it you're
even younger than him?

Speaker 6 (18:12):
No, I'm a little bit older, 28 these days, yeah,
and George is 25.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Well, you're an old young farmer, Hugh.

Speaker 7 (18:22):
Yeah, I'm just about, I'm not far off ageing out.

Speaker 6 (18:25):
31's the cut-off and it's approaching pretty quickly, but.

Speaker 7 (18:28):
Yeah, that's all good. Can't stay young forever, I suppose.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
No, no, you cannot. Rightio, let's start with, we'll go
back to you, George. You're dairy farming in Canterbury, Leaston.
Exciting day for you today. You were putting the halter
collars on the cows.

Speaker 5 (18:46):
Yeah, Jamie, it's been a big last few days. It's
our third day of putting collars on cows. Today we
were a wee bit slow getting going but once we
found the rhythm we're away so we've collared just over
400 cows over the last few days so it's been
a big effort and excited to hook into using them.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
When do you start training them? Do you have to
wait until they've all got their collars on obviously?

Speaker 5 (19:06):
Yeah we kind of did the milking herd in two
different days so I waited until all of the milking
herd had their collars on to train them but as
soon as you have any mob with all the cows
having their collars on you're good to go.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Hugh, you're excited about KiwiSaver for young farmers and I
think this is a good initiative from the government and
it's allowing young farmers to get access to basically buying
a house or even their first farm through KiwiSaver.

Speaker 6 (19:35):
Yeah, it's really a good move and exciting from the
government to put this bill through and hopefully it eventuates
and comes into action but Yeah, a good way for
and incentive for employees that are working on farm to
still be able to live on their farm accommodation but
buy a house.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
George as I said is dairy farming in Leaston and
Canterbury you're a sheep and beef farmer in Te Arkell
I'm assuming being that far north is lambing finished yet?

Speaker 7 (20:07):
Yeah, yeah, we're pretty much done.

Speaker 6 (20:08):
Most people around here have hooked into docking or tailing
well and truly, so yeah, it's all go.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
So how's the lambing season treated you, and how's the
climatic season treating you?

Speaker 7 (20:23):
Yeah, really good so far, Jamie. Yeah, no, we're going good. Sorry,
just getting another call.

Speaker 9 (20:30):
Put me off.

Speaker 7 (20:31):
No, we're going good, and Plenty of grass around and
it's all in good order.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
Hopefully we continue to catch some rain with as our
Nene expected and being on the West Coast, hopefully, yeah,
it's kind to us.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
You want to touch on the need for farmers to
understand the three leaf stage. What are we talking about?

Speaker 7 (20:54):
Yeah, it's become clear and evident to me.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
I was obviously fortunate enough to work for Dairy NZ
a little bit out of uni and then spend a
little bit of time dairy farming and sort of got
it drummed into me.

Speaker 7 (21:07):
But coming from that background and onto.

Speaker 6 (21:09):
The sheep and beef side, I was sort of quite
surprised when I did a little bit of digging and
realised that a lot of people that have been in
the industry a long time and looking after serious Areas
of land, not everyone has got that concept down pat
around the three leaf stage and trying to target our

(21:31):
grazing at the sort of two to three leaf stage
and the importance of that and how much benefit we
can get from such a simple basic concept.

Speaker 7 (21:39):
So something that's.

Speaker 6 (21:41):
Such a low hanging fruit that I still feel like
as an industry we can improve on and look to
educate everyone right from the top through to the bottom
on that concept.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Okay, Hugh, there you go. Forewarned is forearmed. Understand the
three-leaf concept when it comes to grazing management. George Dodson,
I know you're a bit of a social media star
in your spare time. Do you get a chance to
do any of that when you're flat out calving and
milking and putting collars on your cows?

Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, it's certainly been difficult the last month or so.
been very busy on the farm and especially with putting
these collars on and stuff doing a lot of development
work on our family farm that was purchased just over
a year ago so that takes up a wee bit
of spare time as well but finding opportunities here and
there we've actually just started a new dairy farming podcast
not too long ago so that's also a a bit

(22:36):
of a project that we're working on. So, yeah, time's
probably in short supply at the moment.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Well, it is for all farmers at this time of
the year. Two young farmers of the year, Hugh Jackson
and George Dodson. Thanks for your time, guys.

Speaker 7 (22:47):
All good.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
See you later.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
There we go. It is 27 away from one. You're
with the country. Up next, Michelle with Rural News. We'll
have a look at sports news for you. Our text
line is 5009. Are you happy with the All Blacks team?
I'm glad to see... Sam Darry's still in there. I
thought he's a gutsy player. He's got a big engine,

(23:12):
and I like Tupu Vai. I've always been a fan
of having a big number six, and one of the
issues with our loose forwards in recent years is we
haven't had a big six. Tupu Vai does that. I
always thought Scott Barrett would have been a great number six,
but that sort of turned to custard at the 2019
Rugby World Cup. Not his fault. but I still wouldn't

(23:34):
mind seeing him in a six jersey either. Maybe when
he comes back, he might go there. Who knows? We've
got lots of locks. We need sixes. Okay, up next, Michelle,
rural news, sports news. Before the end of the hour,
Todd Clark, our US farming correspondent, and Barry Soper.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
The world stopped turning That September day.

Speaker 7 (24:01):
Were you in the yard.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
This is a great song. I love Alan Jackson, great
country artist. This is his 9-11 song, Where Were You
When the World Stopped Turning. Just before we go to
rural news with Michelle, she is the flavour of the
month at the moment because she's just completed a podcast. Now,
on the farm, we put a lot of effort into

(24:30):
making sure the systems are working properly. But what about
the people working behind or within those systems? That's the
conversation Michelle had with Dana Carver in episode two of
Being Farm Strong. Dana and her husband Tony are dairy
farmers in Canterbury and she's also spent more than 30
years working across health, psychology and workplace well-being. So she

(24:53):
knows this stuff from both sides of the farm gate.
They talk about looking after your people or how looking
after your people can lead to better decisions, stronger teams,
better retention, very important that, and ultimately better performing farming businesses.
Dana also talks about making time for your own wellbeing,

(25:13):
particularly for women on farm who can end up carrying
a pretty big load themselves yes they are super multitaskers
there are simple practical ideas in this one that could
make a real difference to you and your farm listen
now to episode two of being farm strong you can
find it on the country podcasts on iheart radio and

(25:36):
michelle's wandered in here is this a good podcast michelle
I loved it.

Speaker 8 (25:41):
But then I studied psychology and systems. So for Dana
and I, it probably could have gone longer, but it's
not that long.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
How long is it?

Speaker 8 (25:49):
About 20-odd minutes.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Good work. Good work, Michelle. Although I am driving. I'm
driving down to Invercargill tomorrow for the 70s rugby reunion
of those wonderful Southland teams. They played the Lions in
77 and then gave them a real good run. And
they beat Australia in 78 and they beat France in 79,

(26:11):
those were the days. They got to play the Lions
twice in one decade. Anyhow, I don't mind a long-form
podcast for driving, but I do like the 20-minute ones,
so well done.

Speaker 8 (26:21):
Well, I look forward to your critique by text later on.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Well, I'll squeeze in your podcast on the way down tomorrow,
I promise. Here's rural news.

Speaker 8 (26:43):
And the government is supporting the world's first clinical sleep trial,
testing how New Zealand's strong wool bedding performs against synthetic alternatives.
The three-year, $ 2 million sleep science research program is supported
with $ 800, 000 from the Primary Sector Growth Fund and led
by Wisewell. The project will test real people in their
own homes and in sleep laboratories to measure how New

(27:03):
Zealand strong wool bedding performs against synthetic alternatives. It'll assess
sleep latency, body temperature regulation, breathability, moisture management, hypoallergenic performance,
and overall user comfort. And if they're looking for test subjects,
I think I'd put my hand up for that one, Jamie.
You get paid to line a bed.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
I won't segue from that, Michelle. Just got a tip,
because the rural news is brought to you. You are
from Belclutha. I shouldn't say that, should I? I'm driving
through Belclutha tomorrow. I might get hung, drawn, and quartered. Now,
talking about the rural news, excellent rural news, it's sponsored by,

(27:42):
of course, Steel Fort. John McIverney is the chief executive.
He's also a Waitomo sheep and beef farmer. He just
sent me a text. Hi, Jamie, we've had halter for
a month now. I should be sending Craig Piggott a
bill for this. John says, we've had halter for a
month now. Absolute game changer. Best innovation since aerial top dressing.

(28:03):
We'll send a photo showing strip grazing. Without any fences.
And the amazing thing is, and I've seen Holter up close,
it only takes two or three days to train the animals.
It's wonderful. John goes on to say, amazing. So there
you go. Maybe I could send Ali Shanks, world-famous cyclist
who works for Holter now, I'll send Ali a bill.

(28:24):
Shameless plug for Holter. Okay, let's do sport, shall we?

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Sport on the country with AFCO.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Invested in your farming success.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Well, you've all heard the All Blacks side to play
against the Springboks Baltimore Sunday morning. Great viewing time. Richie
Mawanga starting at first five and hooker Cody Taylor as
stand-in captain. Good to see our loose forward Ethan Blackadder
getting a go. And I thought they might have run
Rico Ioane at centre, but they've got Anton Leonard-Brown, who's

(28:57):
a bit of a Dave Rennie favourite, I think, in there.
and they're replacing, obviously, Luke Jacobson and Quinn Tapia, who
have both been invalided out of the Tour. Warriors coach,
and how good are the Waa's going to be tomorrow night?
Warriors coach Andrew Webster's revealed right winger, Dallin Watini-Zelezniak, just

(29:21):
fell short on returning from a broken collarbone for tomorrow's
home NRL league playoff against the Dolphins. Of course, if
the Warriors win that, Michelle... They get a week off
and Dallin will be back. They just about got their
whole team back. That is sports news for you. Up next,
we're going to head to the US as we reflect
on where we'll be. you when the world stopped turning?

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Go out and buy you a gun.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
and turn on Isle of Blue Siri Runs? On the
shoulder head Here's our US farming correspondent, Todd Clark, based
out of Lexington, Kentucky. Today, New Zealand time, is 9-11,

(30:08):
or in our case, the 11th of the 9th. 25
years on from 9-11, which will be, Todd Clark, tomorrow
your time. We're going to talk about 9-11, but I
want to start with farming in the fall, which is
an American word for autumn. How's your season going, mate?

Speaker 9 (30:28):
Well, good afternoon, Jamie, and good to hear you back
on the radio. Our early fall is going well. Our season,
for the most part, has gone well. It was really
dry early, but we had an early spring. But we've
had enough rainfall, not a lot, but just enough to

(30:50):
where we've had a lot of grass growth, a lot
of lucerne or alfalfa. So it's been a good season,
but we're starting to see leaves change color and that
sort of thing. So I'm aware that we'll blink twice
and it'll be wintertime.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Are you still getting record prices for beef?

Speaker 9 (31:13):
Thanks to our president, that has softened some in the
last several weeks. The fundamentals of beef have not changed globally, but...
Here in the States, between the tariffs being reduced on,
I think it's 300,000 metric tons of grinding beef, the

(31:37):
market's taken that as a cue to soften. And we
only have four major packers here in the U.S., and
a couple of the packers have closed plants recently. just
because of not enough throughput. And so that too has
caused the market to soften. But still, prices are good,

(31:59):
but not quite like they were. But some anticipate by
springtime we could be back to record prices.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
So you may not be getting record prices for your beef,
but you have record prices for your fuel, particularly diesel.
There's no end in sight really, Todd, for this Middle
East conflict.

Speaker 9 (32:20):
There's not, and you and I are starting a theme here,
but thanks to our president, maybe I could give him
to you all, and maybe that would make it better.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Thanks, but no thanks for that one. But surely, I
know as midterms are coming up in November, Americans are
very gas sensitive, and diesel, of course, drives your economy.
This must be hurting Trump big time.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
It is.

Speaker 9 (32:49):
Between the cost of groceries and fuel prices, those two
things are hurting him across the board. And just yesterday
came out, maybe it was today, it came out with,
which seems to me to be against the law, but
it has come out and said that if we keep

(33:10):
the Republicans in charge at the midterms, that there's $ 5, 000
per person. person in the U.S. in it for us.
And that seems blatantly wrong. But yeah, he's in a
tough spot at the moment because none of us wanted war.
In inflation between fuel prices and food prices, there's not

(33:35):
been any relief on either of those fronts either. And
he doesn't seem to have an answer for either one.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
What are your memories of 9-11? 25 years on, less
one day.

Speaker 9 (33:49):
My memories are, I had a, my middle son was
born about three months prior to that. And then, so
I had, had two young kids, but a very young son.
And I can remember exactly the field that I was
in cutting hay that morning, listening to the radio and,

(34:09):
and just in disbelief of what was happening. And I,
As you know, I travel a lot, or I think
a lot, and it certainly changed travel. You know, my
kids don't know any different. They just think that that's
how travel is. But I remember a very different way
of traveling than what we have now, and there doesn't

(34:32):
seem to be any end in sight for that either.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Hey, just to finish on, I know you're a true
blue Republican, not necessarily a Trump fan, but you must
be embarrassed by his behavior. he's getting more and more bizarre. And,
of course, this week we saw him telling Porky Pies,
that's an English version of lies, about where he was

(34:55):
on 9-11 being rescued by firefighters. Are you embarrassed?

Speaker 9 (35:00):
Oh, it's just, yes, a little bit. But the positive
spin that I would put on it is that we
can't have much more than a couple more years of
him And my hope is whoever is next won't be
a continuation of his style of politics. But I don't

(35:23):
even know that this is politics. I mean, he just
takes credit for anything and everything that happens and tries
to make it glamorized, whatever it is. But having been
to the Ground Zero site in New York as recent
as this last spring, I that's not something to tell

(35:44):
lies about. There's a lot of families that were impacted
by that, and to have him try to put himself
in the center of that whole thing is just bizarre.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Hey, Todd Clark, thanks for some of your time on
the eve of 9-11 U.S.

Speaker 7 (35:59):
Time.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Go well, my friend.

Speaker 7 (36:01):
Appreciate it, Jamie.

Speaker 9 (36:02):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
Nine away from one. Someone saying, haven't heard any Springsteen today? Well, yes,
you have. This is The Rising. This is Bruce's song
about 9-11. Barry Soper wraps the country next. This is

(36:25):
such a haunting melody. Unofficial anthem of 9-11. Hey, just
before we go to Barry Soper, message from our partners
at FarmStrong. Farmers tell us coping with the ups and
downs of farming is a lot easier when you share
the load. You know, the old story, a problem shared
is a problem halved. That's why it's great to have
a natter and get things off your chest. So why
not make time this weekend to catch up with a

(36:47):
mate over a coffee or a beer? Talking to others
is a great way to lighten the backpack. Enjoy your weekend.
That from the team at FarmStrong. Barry Soper, 9-11. Where
were you? What were you doing?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Oh, it's an incredible thing, isn't it, Jamie, to think
it's 25 years ago. And for many of us, it
seems like just yesterday. I was telephoned in the middle
of the night from a guy I went to primary
school with and have been friends ever since was Ian
Phillips from Gore. And he had an office in the

(37:22):
financial district and called me up in the middle of
the night and said, turn on CNN. And I said, Ian,
it's in the middle of the night. And he said,
turn it on. You'll want to see it. And one
plane had already hit. And the second one was just
about to hit as I switched on the television. The
lights went on in my house, of course, as I
set up to watch the aftermath. at night, and lo

(37:45):
and behold, there was a knock on the door, and
one of my neighbours, Chris Finlayson, who later, of course,
became a minister in Bolger's Cabinet, or not later, in
John Key's Cabinet, came across, and we sat the night
looking at this dreadful event unfolding.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Hey, let's go to another dreadful event coming up, unfolding
the election, depending on the result, of course. Have we
seen a bit of a sea change in the past
week or so?

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Well, you know, the incredible thing is it seems that
Labour has been very slow in getting out of the
starting blocks because they effectively had their first campaign meeting
this week, and it was advertised fairly widely out in
the Hutt Valley, and it was in, I believe it
was in Upper Hutt, and they managed to only scrape

(38:33):
in between 100 and 150 people, which is small for
a campaign meeting, and a cat, I mustn't forget that.
And that was Chris Hipkins. It's his own electorate. And
so he was there holding forth. But you compare that
with the other side. Winston Peters has been on the
road now for the last couple of months and pulling

(38:55):
in several hundred every time he speaks. And similarly, so
has Chris Luxon. He's been out on the campaign trail
pulling in big crowds. He's had 20 meetings. So far,
and I don't know, Labor has got to get up
to speed if it wants to have a good chance
of winning. It reminds me of the campaign that Mike

(39:17):
Moore once ran, couldn't get the numbers out and couldn't
get the numbers out to vote for him.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Not to mention David Seymour and Paul Henry. He's drawing
big crowds around the country as well. Hey, Bazza, got
to go, mate. You enjoy your weekend.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Nice talking to you, Jamie.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
There we go. Barry Soper, a political correspondent here on
the country. Well, I'm heading to Invercargill tomorrow for the
reunion of all the footy players who played for Southland
in the 1970s. Most of them were heroes of mine.
Looking forward to that one. You enjoy your weekend. Go
the Waz. How good's that going to be tomorrow? And,

(39:53):
of course, the All Blacks Sunday morning. See you then.