Building trust
OPINION: The war of words between Southland farmers and Environment Southland over winter grazing inspections reflects a deep lack of trust among farmers for the regional council.
In an email to his members, Langford since it has been six months since the election, the time was right to write to members and offer an update on how things are tracking with the new Government.
He reminded farmers that Federated Farmers had 12 policy priorities for restoring confidence that they wanted to see picked up and implemented by the Government: he claims “significant movement” on nine of those policies.
“These ranged from areas where we wanted to see more investment and support for farmers, through to a long list of impractical rules and regulations that we wanted to see rewritten.
“Our team have been doing our best to keep pressure on the Government to ensure these policy changes are prioritised — and we’ve been having some real success.”
Langford points out that methane targets are being reviewed, unworkable freshwater rules are being rewritten and RMA reform is underway. The ‘Ute Tax’ has been scrapped, SNA rules have been suspended, and investment in water storage is being actively encouraged.
“That’s quite a turnaround in six months. In total, we have seen significant movement on 9/12 of our policy priorities, with positive signs on a further two.
“There has also been significant support for two of Federated Farmers' other priorities: an independent inquiry into rural banking and promoting the benefits of wool.
“We know it’s still pretty tough out there for farmers, but we’re doing everything we can to make things a bit easier and cut some of the unnecessary costs from your balance sheet,” Langford told farmers.
