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.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the new Government has set out a clear and credible plan to get farming back on track and restore farmer confidence.
“The last six years have been incredibly challenging for farmers and rural communities with a lot of impractical and expensive regulation. Farmer confidence is at record lows,” Langford says.
In the lead up to the election, Federated Farmers released a rural roadmap with 12 policy priorities for the next Government that return some positivity to farming and get things back on track. Langford notes that the politicians have clearly sat up and taken notice, because the new Government has adopted those policy priorities as their own.
“The ute tax will be gone by Christmas, water storage is on the way, and there is a real intent to cut through the red tape that farmers have been wrapped up in,” Langford adds.
Farmers will be particularly pleased to see a firm commitment to fix the unworkable freshwater rules and replace them with something that will actually work behind the farm gate.
“There will also be a review the highly political and unscientific methane reduction targets in the Zero Carbon Act to ensure New Zealand is taking a warming approach,” he says.
“All of these things will go a long way when it comes to restoring farmer confidence. Federated Farmers look forward to working with the new Government to make sure they deliver.”
