increase font size
Katie Milne says farming critics have been drowned out by the consistent messages now hailing the sector as economic heroes.
Looking back to Katie Milne's role as president at Federated Farmers.
Halfway through former Federated Farmers president Katie Milne’s three-year term, Mycoplasma bovis reared its ugly head.
Milne says it looked like the bacterial disease was going to be the issue that would provide the biggest headache and heartache for farmers.
“We’re still on that bold and world-leading eradication effort, and there’s no doubt M. bovis is continuing to take a toll on many farming families.”
However, things changed in early 2020 with the arrival of Covid-19.
“But who knew that this year we’d all face an even more destructive disease – one that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” she says.
“While farmers – like all New Zealanders – now have the unnerving prospect of waiting out how much destruction the pandemic will ultimately wreak on global financial and trade systems, never mind paying back the billions of dollars we’ve had to borrow, Covid-19 perversely delivered a silver lining for agriculture in helping raise the awareness as to just how valuable our farming families are to the NZ economy.”
A small group who have called farmers ‘environment vandals’ have been drowned out by the consistent messages from polls, and politicians and media pundits who now hail the sector as economic heroes.
Milne says farming was deemed an essential service during the lockdown, able to offer security in a world turned upside.
“We continued producing top quality food to put on the tables of Kiwi families self-isolating in their household bubbles, and continued to earn export revenue,” she told Rural News.
“For farmers feeling misunderstood and under-appreciated, it’s been a real confidence booster. And going forward, those improved relationships we forged with MPI and other agencies as we worked on pandemic solutions can be built upon.”
Milne stepped down last month after three years in the role and has been replaced by Andrew Hoggard. She was the first female president of the farmer lobby.
She says being president really brought home to her the power of the Federated Farmers brand.
“More than ever, we’re sought out by ministries, ministers and media as the organisation that can speak for all farmers, not just one industry group.
“And we’re listened to, by policy makers, by councils and by governments. And when they don’t hear us, we let them know loud and clear where they’ve gone wrong and what we think they should do differently in as constructive a way as possible.
“If members could see for themselves the workload this organisation takes on, they’d be astounded.”
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.
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.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.
