27th May 2026 // Rural News in partnership with Farmlands

Meat Industry Association appoints new chief executive ACT backtracks on seasonal worker visa tax Rural hospitals stretched as staff shortages leave beds empty Rural News is in partnership with Farmlands as part of CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp - our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch / listen.   Meat Industry Association appoints new chief executive The Meat Industry Association has appointed Nick Beeby as its new chief executive, with Beeby bringing deep red meat sector experience to the role from his current position as chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board. MIA independent chair Nathan Guy says the role attracted strong interest, but Beeby stood out for his background in strategy, market development, quota administration and industry assurance. He previously served as general manager of market development at Beef and Lamb New Zealand and is a past chair of New Zealand Farm Assurance Incorporated. Guy says Beeby's understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing processors and exporters will provide clear leadership for the association and its members.   ACT backtracks on seasonal worker visa tax Horticulture employers have been given reassurance that ACT's proposed six-dollar-a-day visa surcharge would not hit their RSE workforce — after party leader David Seymour appeared to include seasonal workers in the policy. Seymour told TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday he would have thought RSE workers would fall under the charge, drawing immediate concern from the horticulture sector. An ACT spokesperson has since confirmed Seymour misspoke — the surcharge targets standard work visas, not seasonal programmes. The numbers explain why the sector was alarmed. A typical seven-month RSE placement would have attracted around one-thousand-two-hundred-and-seventy-eight dollars in charges — a significant hit for workers earning the RSE minimum of twenty-six dollars and-thirty-five cents per hour. ACT says full detail on how its immigration policy affects agriculture and horticulture will be released at Fieldays in two weeks   Rural hospitals stretched as staff shortages leave beds empty Rural hospitals are seeing more patients than ever but can't keep up with demand, with a new report finding staff shortages are leaving beds sitting empty while emergency departments struggle. The report, by the New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association and APEX, looked at twelve rural and provincial hospitals and found emergency department patient numbers rose four-point-seven percent between July 2023 and June 2025 — with Kaitāia up twenty-two percent. Yet bed utilisation across the group averaged just seventy-nine-point-five percent, well below the recommended eighty-five percent threshold. The number of patients leaving without being seen rose twenty percent over the same period — from just over seven-thousand to more than eight-thousand-six-hundred. The unions say patients are giving up and driving to larger hospitals instead. The report calls for two fixes — greater investment in rural medical staffing, and a shift to seven-day service models rather than on-call rosters. It says rural health workers value working in smaller communities, but need support to stay.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.