Third Candidate Confirmed for Feds President Election
There has been another twist to the Federated Farmers annual election fiasco.
Government policy settings are presently farmers’ biggest worry, says Federated Farmers president Katie Milne.
She told Rural News at the Feds recent conference in Wellington that farmers are concerned at the possible effects on their farms of the Zero Carbon Bill and water policies.
They are worried about not knowing what they have to do and about how policies will impact on them, Milne said.
“We also don’t think the regulatory impacts and cost benefit analyses have been properly done on a lot of these things, in particular the flow on effects they will have.”
Milne sees the farming sector as flat at present despite commodity prices being pretty good. A key objective of the Feds conference was to try to help the public and decisionmakers to better understand farming.
Feds joined forces this year with a commercial conference organiser which staged the event at Te Papa Museum, Wellington.
Their aim was to do something different and bring primary industries into Wellington to give attendees closer connections and enable collaboration and connections between politicians, academics, officials and agribusiness people.
“It’s gone really well. Very good feedback from everybody shows this format has worked,” Milne said.
Forestry Minister Todd McClay has today congratulated the winners of the 2026 Growing Native Forests Champions Awards at Fieldays.
The Government has announced $60,000 to provide one-off grants of $1,000 to each of the 60 New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF) clubs across the country.
New Zealand’s rural sector has once again demonstrated its generosity, with the second Rural Industry Leaders Dinner, Debate and Auction raising an impressive $400,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
There has been another twist to the Federated Farmers annual election fiasco.
Analysis of decades of research has revealed the implementation of good farming practices plays a critical role in reducing nutrient losses to improve freshwater outcomes.
Yesterday the Government used the opening of Fieldays to announce a major investment, as part of its Land Use Flexibility package, to support a more productive and sustainable future across six sectors including dairy.

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