increase font size
Labour’s ag spokeswoman Jo Luxton with Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes at the provincial annual meeting this month.
Labour Party agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton is on a mission to win back rural sector votes.
The Labour list MP admits that her party needs to put in the hard yards to win back the confidence of farmers and growers.
On the policy front, Luxton wants to start with a clean slate and is keen to talk to farmers before helping the party formulate its agriculture sector policies.
To this end, the party is organising a two-day event in July for some caucus members to meet industry stakeholders and visit farms. Luxton says the party is working closely with Federated Farmers to organise the event.
At the Feds Waikato branch annual meeting this month, Luxton told farmers that the party got the message "loud and clear" at the last general election.
She noted that over the past few years there has been "a lot of headbutting and locking of horns".
"That's something I'm keenly aware of," she says. "Farmers have told me that they didn't feel heard in the last few years, but I recognise the need to have good relationships with the primary sector.
"So my job is to build relationships, get to hear from you and understand what's important for you."
At the last general election, Labour lost a slew of regional seats it had won from National three years earlier. This included Luxton's Rangitata seat.
The party lost the rural vote based on backlash around a flurry of environmental laws which many farmers claim were rammed through without proper consultation.
Luxton told Dairy News that she's hearing from farmers that Labour "did too much, too fast" during its last term in government.
She says most farmers agreed with the direction of the legislation, but some had concerns about the speed at which it was being implemented.
"I know this caused a lot of anxiety among farmers."
Luxton says she's keen to rebuild relationships and already enjoys a good rapport with Federated Farmers leaders.
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts started after their disastrous Covid response; now trying to undermine the Covid inquiry to protect his own backside.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
OPINION: One thing I keep hearing from rural New Zealanders is the importance of relationships. Strong relationships don’t just happen - they take trust, consistency, and time.
OPINION: When there is new evidence, good leaders change course.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson says the Government’s decisions are set to hamstring growth within the farming sector.
Whangarei field service technician, Bryce Dickson has cemented his place in John Deere’s history, becoming the first ever person to win an award for the third time at the annual Australian and New Zealand Technician of the Year Awards, announced at a gala dinner in Brisbane last night.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
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: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…
