The SME Stream

The global dairy market is expected to face a period of weaker commodity prices following "stunning" global milk production growth across the second half of 2025, according to Rabobank, in its Q4 Global Dairy Quarterly Report. So is a $9 milk price now on the cards?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet the operating system behind the global box office.

We’re with Stuart Dickinson, CEO of Vista Group, a Kiwi software provider serving almost half the world’s major movie theatre chains. Stuart explains how Vista handles over $15 billion USD in transactions annually, with the shift from simple coke and popcorn sales to luxury dining and beverage service.

Hear about Vista's transformation to a higher-margin Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model and the associated risks and opportunities. Find out about the real impact of streaming, why a theatrical release is still good for a film’s bottom line, and why theaters love horror movies. Plus, the financial metrics retail investors should watch to track Vista’s ongoing transformation.

Plus, Stuart explains his confidence in the future of the cinema experience—even in the Netflix age.

For more or to watch on YouTube—check out http://linktr.ee/sharedlunch

Shared Lunch is brought to you by Sharesies Australia Limited (ABN 94 648 811 830; AFSL 529893) in Australia and Sharesies Limited (NZ) in New Zealand. It is not financial advice. Information provided is general only and current at the time it’s provided, and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. We do not provide recommendations and you should always read the disclosure documents available from the product issuer before making a financial decision. Our disclosure documents and terms and conditions—including a Target Market Determination and IDPS Guide for Sharesies Australian customers—can be found on our relevant Australian or NZ website.

Investing involves risk. You might lose the money you start with. If you require financial advice, you should consider speaking with a qualified financial advisor. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

Appearance on Shared Lunch is not an endorsement by Sharesies of the views of the presenters, guests, or the entities they represent. Their views are their own.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drones have gone from hobbyist toys to decisive tools of war and essential infrastructure for industry. Few people have had a better vantage point on that shift than FenixUAS founder Dr Andrew Shelley. 

In the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, the economist and aviation specialist explains how a decade of incremental innovation has transformed uncrewed aircraft into platforms that can reshape modern warfare, agritech and even search and rescue.​

From DIY quadcopters to smart weapons

New Zealand’s first drone rules arrived ten years ago, when the technology was still rudimentary and often home‑built. 

“Pretty much every part of drone technology has improved,” Shelley said. 

Better batteries and lighter and stronger materials have almost doubled flight time, while mass‑manufactured airframes have brought the price of drones down. and far more capable sensors and onboard software. Other advances, such as sensor technology and onboard software, have flowed into features many consumers now take for granted, such as obstacle avoidance, rock‑solid position hold and follow‑me modes, as well as increasingly autonomous flight profiles.​

The Ukraine war, now approaching four years in duration, has been characterised by the use of drones by both Ukrainian and Russian forces. 

The changing face of warfare

Shelley recalled watching footage of a small first‑person‑view drone in Ukraine flying straight past a Russian electronic warfare vehicle “festooned with antennas” and striking the armoured vehicle ahead of it. The drone was trailing a hair-thin fibre-optic cable, allowing it to avoid radio jamming systems.

“To a certain extent, what we’re seeing in Ukraine is that the old is new again,” said Shelley, pointing out that the current generation of drones echo some of the cruise‑missile tactics from the early 1990s.​

Shelley traces a clear line from ISIS workshops that assembled drones from AliExpress parts, through Turkey’s TB2 Bayraktar successes and Russia’s use of DJI’s Aeroscope detection tools, to today’s battlefields where consumer‑grade quadcopters handle intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and precision strikes. 

The West, he argues, has been complacent: “Turkey was leading the way with its Bayraktar TB2, Iran is clearly leading the way with its Shahed series drones and we are playing catch-up,” he said, pointing out that the US is now reverse‑engineering an Iranian drone rather than setting the pace.​

Artificial intelligence is only beginning to make its mark in commercial uses in New Zealand, but Shelley says the leading edge is already visible in applications like Christchurch‑based SPS Automation’s large agricultural drones. These systems can autonomously identify wilding pines and apply “a small amount of chemical herbicide” to individual plants, an approach he argues could transform conservation economics by reaching areas that are “almost impossible on foot” or too expensive to service with crewed aircraft.​

Agritech, data and the search and rescue gap

If the military implications dominate headlines, Shelley sees at least as much untapped potential in agritech and emergency response. He cites spray drones that can drop slug bait on vulnerable crops in muddy conditions where tractors would churn up soil and helicopters are cost‑prohibitive, turning marginal blocks into productive land. 

Pasture management is another frontier. Instead of consultants walking paddocks with pasture meters or towing instruments behind quad bikes, he expects drones to fly automated grids soon to map grass cover and optimise feed wedges across entire farms, backed by “clever software” to interpret the imagery.​

Search and rescue, he argues, is “one of the things we haven’t done well with”, despite New Zealand’s vast coastline, mountains and national parks. Shelley believes agencies need to change their mindset and accept that in bad weather or hazardous terrain, “we have to move into a mindset where we’re happy to lose the technology,” risking a $100,000 drone instead of a multi‑million‑dollar helicopter and its crew to find people in distress.​

Building a drone industry – and workforce

FenixUAS sits at the centre of the fledgling drone ecosystem, training over a thousand civilian and government operators a year, including the New Zealand Defence Force, and certifying many of the country’s advanced drone operators. That gives Shelley what he calls a broader overview of what everyone’s doing with drones than perhaps anyone else in the country, from agritech to infrastructure inspection. 

While firms like Tauranga-based Syos, and SPS Automation point to a growing UAV scene, he says the real bottleneck is software talent, with drone companies crying out for mechatronics and software engineers who can turn raw imagery into usable insights.​

Listen to Episode 130 of The Business of Tech podcast featuring Dr Andrew Shelley, streaming on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your weekly tech reading list

The year the tech billionaires won (again) - BusinessDesk

Canaries in the code mine: what AI is doing to first jobs for Generation Z - BusinessDesk

ChatGPT’s New Internet Browser Can Run 80% of a One-Person Business - Entrepreneur

The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course - New York Times

AI-Powered Browsers Are Failing Badly - Futurism

China set to limit access to Nvidia’s H200 chips despite Trump export approval - FT

Australia's ban on social media for users aged under 16 comes into effect; platforms that do not comply risk fines of up to AU$49.5M - The Guardian

OpenAI Staffer Quits, Alleging Company’s Economic Research Is Drifting Into AI Advocacy - Wired

SpaceX to Pursue 2026 IPO Raising Far Above $30 Billion - Bloomberg

From Llamas to Avocados: Meta’s shifting AI strategy is causing internal confusion - CNBC

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 55, our guest is the former National Party Minister, Speaker of the House and Ambassador to London, Sir Lockwood Smith. 

Sir Lockwood Smith is one of those people you feel you know before meeting him. He first stepped into the public gaze as a television presenter of science programmes aimed at school age children. What started as a university holiday job delivered some early name recognition, helping him to win a seat in the old first part the post political system.

He grew up on the family farm that he still runs today. He learned the ropes early and developed the skills necessary to run the farm before leaving school. A Bachelors and Masters degree (with honours) in Agricultural Science put the theory alongside the practical skills he’d already developed.

At first, he followed what most of us would observe as an academic career, lecturing at Massey University and wining a scholarship to attend the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, at the University of Adelaide, where he studied for his PhD in ruminant metabolism. He tells of studying Opera, as a sideline, while he was there.

While in Adelaide he took up rowing, winning five state championships and leading the Adelaide University Boat Club as it’s captain.

Back in New Zealand, politics was calling and he was elected to parliament as the MP for Kaipara in 1984. He became one of our longest serving MP’s, staying for 29 years, the last five of which were spent as a most respected “Speaker of the House”.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast with Bruce Cotterill, Sir Lockwood speaks of the highs and lows of life in politics. There have been many achievements and the occasional disappointment, and he is refreshingly open in his discussion, including the behind the scenes conflict surrounding leadership appointments.

And he reflects on his time as Speaker of the House and his disappointment at today’s parliamentary behaviour.

He also covers off his five-year stint as our High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ghana & Nigeria, and Ambassador to Ireland and the various roles he conducted on behalf of the UK government after his post was completed.

Today, he’s back on the farm that he has operated throughout a busy life, breeding Belgian Blue bulls, a breed that he has continued to develop and enhance over his entire life. He’s a happy and contented man with a wonderful story to tell. And he tells it very well.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new Reserve Bank Governor, Anna Breman, hosted an event for media earlier, allowing financial journalists to get their first look.

Breman is monitoring the impact of tightening financial conditions, amid concerns about the state of the OCR.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent trading updates indicate the nation's leading retailers are feeling the pinch ahead of the busy season.

The Warehouse and Kathmandu are among the big names that have been seeing significant losses over the past few months.

Milford Asset Management's Michael Luke says there's hope things will pick up in the next few weeks, given the demand brought about by Christmas and Boxing Day.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A signal from the Reserve Bank's led Westpac to hike rates - and one economist expects other banks could follow. 

Westpac lifted two five-year fixed rates by 30 basis points yesterday.

The bank's chief economist, Kelly Eckhold, says it seems the Reserve Bank's unlikely to cut the OCR again any time soon. 

"We kind of expected that they would cut the rate by 25 basis points, but we didn't expect them to call time on the easing cycle. It sort of scared the markets a little bit." 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwis are flying the coop, most of them heading for better opportunities across the Tasman.

Latest Stats NZ figures show just over 124,000 migrant departures in the year to October, up nearly 7% - 71,000 of them New Zealanders.

What is pushing our best and brightest out the door? And is the grass really greener on the other side?

Today on The Front Page, NZ Herald Business editor at large Liam Dann is with us to dissect what draws Kiwis abroad, and what it all means for the ones sticking around.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister ponders an FTA with India, the RMA reforms, the latest 1News poll, and whether lamb beats ham for Christmas in the Luxon household.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Hipkins is hitting out at the Taxpayers' Union as it prepares to launch a campaign against Finance Minister Nicola Willis. 

The lobby group is questioning Willis's track record on the economy. 

Willis has responded, challenging chair and former finance minister Ruth Richardson to a debate. 

The Labour Leader told John MacDonald the Taxpayers' Union has a view of "entrenched privilege". 

He claims the organisation is funded by a group of rich people who want to keep all of their money. 

Hipkins is also unimpressed by Willis’ decision to agree to the debate, which he says shows deep divisions among the National Party. 

He calls it petty and says Willis should be focused on things like creating jobs. 

LISTEN ABOVE  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.