Editorial: Ag is back!

National’s Todd McClay is the new Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Trade and he will have a team of ministers assisting him in associate roles. Former Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard is the Associate Minister of Agriculture overseeing animal welfare and skills and Associate Minister for the Environment. The first-term MP is also Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety but will sit outside Cabinet.

Otago sheep and beef farmer Mark Patterson, NZ First, is Minister for Rural Communities and Associate Minister of Agriculture and will also sit outside Cabinet. National’s Nicola Grigg, who was raised on the family farm at Mt Somers, is Associate Minister of Agriculture with a focus on horticulture. She’s also outside Cabinet and will also be Minister of State for Trade.

If this does nothing else, it sends a clear message to the sector – and the wider political community and bureaucracy – that this Chris Luxon-led administration takes the primary sector seriously.

Meanwhile, the new agriculture ministers will have plenty of advice coming from the caucus with hands-on farmers such as Miles Anderson, Mike Butterick, Grant McCallum, Suze Redmayne, Tim van der Molden and Barbara Kuriger. All will have their ears to the ground and be able to give feedback direct from the rural heartland on any issues of concern to the farming sector.

Added to the new beefed-up rural ministry team is the more farmer friendly policy agenda the new Government has promised to implement. This includes a thorough review of freshwater, biodiversity and significant natural area regulations foisted on the sector by the previous administration. Also on the agenda is the resumption of live ship exports, the dumping of the ute tax and even a directive to use wool in government buildings.

Meanwhile, farmers will also be watching with interest how the three-part coalition – made up of National, NZ First and ACT – deals with climate change on tackling on-farm emissions.

There is no doubt the primary sector is again being taken seriously by the new Government and it makes a refreshing change from the clear anti-farmer stance of the previous administration.

This is all looks to be a good start, but now the real work begins.