increase font size
Former agriculture minister Nathan Guy.
State farmer Landcorp has raised the ire of opposition politicians and Federated Farmers over its increasingly overt political behaviour.
Landcorp – now known as Pāmu Farms of NZ – has peeved former agriculture ministers Nathan Guy and David Carter over a previously secret submission to the Tax Working Group (TWG) led by former finance minister Sir Michael Cullen.
In its submission, the state-owned farmer advocated for both a tax on water and nitrogen fertiliser and stated that it was not opposed to a capital gains tax.
Landcorp’s pro-tax submission is in stark contrast to the views of Federated Farmers and many others in the farming sector. Guy and Carter have described the submission as ‘a kick in the guts’ for rural communities.
“Landcorp’s sneaky submission to the TWG proposing a water tax, nitrogen fertiliser tax and not opposing a capital gains tax proves just how out of touch the state-owned company is with farmers on the ground,” Guy claims.
The former agriculture minister has also questioned why Landcorp could submit to the TWG more than a month after submissions to it were closed off. He believes the state farmer has been encouraged ‘behind the scenes’ by its political masters to present a pro-tax opinion from the farming sector to the tax working group.
Guy is also asking why Landcorp’s submission wasn’t publicly listed on the TWG website until it became public through the Official Information Act.
Federated Farmers Andrew Hoggard has accused Landcorp of “throwing other farmers under the bus”.
Federated Farmers rejects these new tax proposals, Hoggard says.
“There’s already a lot of regulations by regional councils focusing on a lot of these issues — managing it that way. Coming in with taxes is sort-of like just doubling up.”
When questioned in Parliament, the minister responsible for Landcorp, Shane Jones, conceded he was not aware of the submission until alerted by media and that he did not know the SOE was promoting environmental taxes. Jones denied there has been political encouragement for Landcorp to make a submission.
However, he conceded the idea for the submission came after Landcorp executives – including its head of environment Alison Dewes and consultant Peter Fraser – met with Treasury officials about environmental taxes.
Both Dewes and Fraser are well-known environmental advocates and have publicly campaigned against irrigation expansion and other environmental issues. Landcorp also has its own ‘environmental reference group’ chaired by freshwater-campaigner Marnie Prickett and including high-profile anti-farming advocates Mike Joy and Forest and Bird’s Anna-Beth Cohen.
It is understood that Landcorp’s chief executive Steven Carden approved the TWG submission and although it was signed off by Landcorp’s board, the board members were not aware of its advocacy for environmental taxes.
Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers arable chair, Bevan Lill, said Beef + Lamb NZ data indicated that for the last six years, the average arable return on investment was about 0.8% while inflation ran about 4% - so the average arable farm was going backwards at about 3% a year.
For the first time in a quarter of a century, Federated Farmers has something positive to say about the Labour Party’s climate change policy leading into a general election.
Rural leader Mark Hooper has been appointed as an independent director to the NZPork board, bringing extensive farming, governance and advocacy experience to the role.
A partnership between state-owned enterprise Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Limited) and charity Meet the Need is putting more than quality New Zealand beef into food bank parcels this year.
There's been widespread support from the primary sector for the Government's announcement on changes to freshwater farm plans that come under the Natural Environment Bill, which is now set to replace the existing RMA.
Minister of Conservation Hon Tama Potaka has appointed Susan O'Regan as Chair of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust (QEII) for a three-year term.
Red meat farmers are welcoming Labour’s plan to review the Emissions Trading Scheme and not to campaign on pricing agricultural emissions.
Where any worker in the kiwifruit industry is mistreated, we expect the authorities to take action.
Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers arable chair, Bevan Lill, said Beef + Lamb NZ data indicated that for the last six years, the average arable return on investment was about 0.8% while inflation ran about 4% - so the average arable farm was going backwards at about 3% a year.
Seed and grain companies share the concerns of arable farmers about the viability of their sector, says Seed and Grain New Zealand chief executive Dr Sarah Clark.
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) says unnecessary changes to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) will seriously erode investor confidence and result in significant reductions in forest planting rates.
