increase font size
Outgoing Federated Farmers president Katie Milne.
OPINION: Petty and small-minded is the only way to describe the continued snubbing of Federated Farmers in regard to the Government’s freshwater reforms.
Late last week, Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor – along with ministry officials – unveiled the long-awaited reforms before invited guests at Parliament. However, the farmer lobby was a notable omission.
How does the Government expect to get farmers onside for its highly contentious water plans, when it refuses to deal or even engage with the farmer representative organisation?
O’Connor denies that farmers have been left out of the process. He cites the involvement of the John Penno-led Freshwater Leaders Group – with the likes of Bryce Johnson, Marnie Prickett, Gary Taylor, Hugh Logan and Alison Dewes (look up these people’s attitude to farming), along with staffers from Dairy NZ and Beef+Lamb NZ as bringing “deep knowledge, expertise and input from leaders across the primary sector” to the reforms.
Rural News understands that Federated Farmers has been on the outer – and completely frozen out of the process since May last year – when it was accused of leaking confidential briefing material about the reforms. The farmer lobby has fiercely denied this claim and MfE officials have never proven it.
This all came to a head in May 2019 when Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) water director, Martin Workman, circulated the key parts of the draft final freshwater package. It went to a number of agricultural organisations who were told it was confidential and not to be shared. However, it was leaked within 24 hours of being sent out.
MfE and Workman blamed Feds for the leak and refused to work with or share any further information on the water reforms with the farmer lobby. This was despite the Feds’ strenuous denials of any leak in a letter to Parker’s office. “The documents were not provided to our elected water spokesman and definitely not to any farmers,” the letter said.
Feds water spokesman is Chris Allen, who Environment Minister David Parker publicly castigated at a fiery farmer meeting about the proposed reforms in Timaru, last year.
The continual snubbing of Federated Farmers by the Ministers, MfE and the advisory bodies over these reforms will make it even more difficult to get farmer buy-in on the new water regulations.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
Federated Farmers says the final report into banking competition is a significant step forward for rural New Zealand - and a vindication of the farming sector's concern.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
Balclutha farmer Renae Martin remembers the moment she fell in love with cows.
Academic freedom is a privilege and it's put at risk when people abuse it.
