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Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard
OPINION: Satisfying, but not at all surprising, that the messages from agriculture sector groups to new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins were more or less entirely in tune.
When the Governor-General signed the warrant confirming him as our 41st prime minister, Feds released a statement urging that the policy “reset” Hipkins had talked about should centre on slowing down the legislative rush and prioritising things that will help families and businesses prosper. As it happened, that same day Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association released a policy manifesto that B+LNZ chair Andrew Morrison said should be “compulsory early reading” for the new PM.
In all honesty, if you’d asked any farmer or grower to sit down and write a government action wish list, it would likely look very similar. There is utter exasperation, anger too, with rushed and poorly-consulted on blanket regulations that hamper, rather than help, our environmental and production challenges.
The replacement resource management legislation is shaping up as a dog that will add costs, cumbersome compliance and drawn-out arguments rather than reduce them.
The Feds, B+LNZ and the Meat Industry Assocviation (MIA) highlighted frustration around migrant worker restrictions, the non-science-based methane targets and the pitfalls of the ‘Fair Pay’ Agreements and blanket pine planting.
One we didn’t mention but I’m glad that Beef + Lamb did – the NPSIB. “We strongly urge the Government to pause the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity and work with industry on a narrower definition of Significant Natural Area (SNA) that protects our precious biodiversity,” B+LNZ said.
“The Government also urgently needs to carry out an assessment of the cumulative impact of all these policies.
“We’d like to see a pause on any new regulations like biodiversity and RMA reform until this review has been done.” Exactly: the date is now set for the general election – October 14. The ball’s in your court!
OPINION: While we're on the topic of lumberjacks, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has no doubt used a chainsaw hundreds of times, but your old mate reckons he would’ve still been sweating on getting it right when cutting down a pine in front of the cameras, as he did above Queenstown during a recent pre-Budget announcement around extra funding for wilding pine control efforts.
Wilding pines are the wrong tree in the wrong place, and they need to go, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.
OPINION: For thousands of Southland farmers, this week would have tipped them into the non-compliant category when it comes to following regional freshwater plan rules. But the Government has stepped in to give them the clarity they deserve.
Southland farmers staring down a May deadline to submit freshwater farm plans under current regional plan rules have been given an 18-month reprieve by the Government.
Federated Farmers says the Government's announcement of $79 million in funding for wilding pine control marks a major breakthrough.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
OPINION: No one messes around with Winston Peters, more so in a general election year.
OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.
