Parting shot?
OPINION: Environment Minister David Parker, likely in the final weeks of the job, remains hell-bent on burning bridges with farmers.
MP for Southland Joseph Mooney, National, says farmers sent a clear message to the government by taking to the streets in huge numbers at Groundswell NZ protests across New Zealand today.
Mooney was in Gore with National’s agriculture spokesperson David Bennett where a big number of farmers took their tractors and utes to town to show their objection to the government’s unworkable regulatory approach in the farming sector.
“It is a sad indictment on the government that farmers felt they had to take their tractors and utes to town to be heard,” says Mooney.
Protestors in Auckland attempted to converge on the city centre. |
“But with the government unwilling to listen to farmers’ concerns they’ve been left with few other options.
“The huge number of farmers that lined the streets of Gore and in centres across New Zealand sent a direct message that simply cannot be ignored.
“It was an incredible and powerful display of what the farming sector thinks of the government’s policies.
“Proposed regulations in the areas of freshwater and indigenous biodiversity and Special Natural Areas (SNAs) are completely unworkable and uneconomic.”
Tractors lined up at the protest in Taupo. |
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.