increase font size
Katie Milne.
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne says the new Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor is obviously well versed in agriculture, which many Feds members and all farmers will appreciate.
She knows O’Connor reasonably well and says he has been a farmer, has brothers farming and is well connected with the industry, making it easy to talk to him about the issues that affect farmers.
“He speaks about rural-proofing things that go through government and that sits quite close to what our role is as we see it. This involves making sure that a rural lens gets properly applied to everything. We are looking forward to working with him and his team to get the best possible outcomes.”
Milne says farmers, like all New Zealanders, want the best for the environment and are committed to finding solutions that are science-based, cost-effective and community-driven. She says people in farming and working in the wider primary industries have been actively making a difference for the last 20 years, investing money and energy in making this aspiration a reality.
“What farmers need from the new government in the climate change space is that any new regulation still enables growth, innovation and productivity as it seeks to lower emissions. As the Paris Agreement says, it should not compromise food production in the process.
“It’s a big challenge and with science already working hard to find animal mitigations, regulation needs to avoid unintended consequences.”
Milne says the Federation welcomes the opportunity to assist the new government with planning for these goals and to make them achievable.
“This will ultimately require tailored solutions that will be fit for purpose for both rural and provincial NZ and the primary sector,” says Milne.
The Federation hopes to start talking soon with ministers allocated the new roles that affect its members.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
Federated Farmers says the final report into banking competition is a significant step forward for rural New Zealand - and a vindication of the farming sector's concern.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…
