A positive Fieldays, says Langford
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
Farmers are calling for Kiwi banks and their overseas parent companies need to follow the lead of America's six biggest banks and urgently withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
Federated Farmers points out that since the start of December, heavyweights JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs have all exited the UN-backed banking alliance.
"These big US banks have seen that their involvement ion the Net Zero Banking Alliance is about to come under huge scrutiny," says Federated Farmers banking spokesperson Richard McIntyre.
"They're leaving in droves because of lawsuits for anti-competitive behaviour within the banking sector and growing political pressure.
"Federated Farmers are now calling on our banks to do the same. They need to do the right thing and withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance - and fast."
In December, Federated Farmers lodged a formal complaint to the Commerce Commission, requesting an urgent investigation into the lending practices of New Zealand banks.
The complaint relates to alleged anti-competitive and coordinated behaviour from the banks, driven by their involvement in the international Net Zero Banking Alliance.
The Net Zero Banking Alliance is an international group committed to aligning their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
McIntyre says with five major banks dominating 97.3% of the agricultural lending market in New Zealand, Kiwi farmers should be asking serious questions of their bank managers.
"All five of those banks are either directly members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance or are indirectly affiliated through their parent companies."
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
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