OPINION: Forget about the fabled 'rural-urban' divide, the real fault-line in farming might actually be the divide between grass-roots farmers and the industry corporates who claim to be 'speaking on behalf of farmers'.
This gap came to the fore over the Feds' Save Our Sheep campaign to stop productive sheep & beef land being locked up in unproductive pines.
Some reckon a few of these corporate types framed the campaigners as a 'fringe group'.
Not so, says Richard Dawkins, Feds Meat & Wool Council: "Polished corporate narratives may sound convincing, but they often ignore on-farm realities. Quite simply, observing without objecting is a form of endorsement. We're observing the landscape of New Zealand and the face of our industry changing, but our Meat and Wool Council are also objecting. We do not endorse the status quo."