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Incoming Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says it feels like there’s a bit of momentum going forward for farmers.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford delivered his annual report at its annual meeting in Wellington last week. Here's what he said:
They say the only constant in life is change, and that's certainly proven to be the case in recent times, not only for Federated Farmers as an organisation but for farmers in general too.
We've had it all this year, from cyclones and flooding to regulation and cost pressures.
I know it hasn't been easy. Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room: You're reading a president's report being written by an acting president.
This is because in May this year we farewelled Andrew Hoggard from his role, slightly earlier than both he and the organisation would have liked.
Andrew has been an absolute stalwart of this organisation for more than 18 years, working his way up from the Young Farmers rep on the Manawatū executive to be the national president, and I have nothing but admiration for the hard work he put in on behalf of farmers.
He can be immensely proud of the huge contribution he made during his time with the organisation and the legacy he left behind - and I have a feeling it won't be the last we see of him.
This year has also seen significant change to our senior management team as we farewelled Leigh Catley from her position as general manager of communications after more than six years in the role. During her time in the role, Leigh made a huge contribution and was a great 'phone a friend' to have on the end of the line when you got a tricky media enquiry.
Later this month we will also be farewelling Gavin Forrest after a massive 20 years with the organisation, albeit in two separate stints. Gavin's impact on Federated Farmers policy is totally unrivalled, having worked his way up from the shop floor to lead our policy team for seven years. He signs off from the organisation as our first, and probably last, chief advisor. We'll miss your wise counsel around the office, chief.
The good news is that we've started the rebuild already and have made a couple of strategic appointments to key roles as we continue to advocate strongly on behalf of farmers. Both Paul Melville (GM policy & advocacy) and Aaron Letcher (GM communications) have joined us from recent roles with DairyNZ and Parliament.
I'm confident we've got the right team in place to help lead us forward as an organisation - because the work Feds does has never been more important. We're starting to see some real progress and it does feel like we've turned a bit of a corner when it comes to the big issues impacting farmer confidence with the recent release of our election platform.
For the first time in a long time, it feels like there's a bit of momentum going forwar for farmers as the Government start to walk away from things like fertiliser taxes and tighten up on farm forestry conversions, and the Opposition starts to pick up on Feds policy priorities.
It's only going to get better as we get closer to the election. Finally, I'd like to thank all our board, provincial presidents, senior management team, staff - and most importantly our members right across the country - for their continued support of our organisation.
Advocacy is a team sport, and we all have different roles to play, but if we keep working together, I have no doubt we will get the results farmers need us to.
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