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ACT Party agriculture spokesperson Mark Cameron.
Mark Cameron, the ACT Party’s agricultural spokesperson, says farmers are both referee and player in “the game of farming”.
In an interview with Country TV, the list MP who is also a dairy farmer of more than 30 years, says farmers are what they do.
“We invest in this canvas on farm… this metaphorical picture of what our farm looks like, how we interact with our animals, and being part of nature, all the time, every day.
“Quite often, what was happening on farm and is happening on farm isn’t in lockstep with the language in politics,” Cameron says.
He says he feels it has been his role in the past three years to remind his fellow Parliamentarians that farmers are good at what they do.
“I’m really collegial with some of these people,” he explains, “but they don’t live it, they don’t do it, they come in a vis coat for the sake of a cheap, political win, for the sake of a day, to articulate what we should do in our lives.”
“Well, after 33 years in an industry, I know a lot of this stuff is hyperbole, and it actually won’t work as do the farmers I farm against and they are affronted by that.”
Cameron says many farmers want people to say that farmers are good at their roles and deserve some credit for the work they are doing.
He says they need assistance and the opportunity to innovate as opposed to leaving farmers “under the table, fighting for the scraps”.
Get the full story on Country TV, tonight at 7.30pm on sky channel 81, or get 30 days FREE access, online and on demand at www.countrytv.co.nz.
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