Judging by comments on twitter, it is clear farmers feel by ambushed by TVNZ: the 'expert' panel included Maori activist Mike Smith with an anti-farming agenda; and there were no farmers in the audience, with most questions thrown to the panel coming from left-leaning environmentalists.
While DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle did a sterling job as the sole crusader for the dairy sector, his comments drew a negative reaction from the biased audience when saying that farmers are hard working families that care for the environment.
Kind of like a knife to the heart, is how one farmer described it on twitter.