Feds Label New Farmer Group 'Bad News'

Federated Farmers has labelled Fair for Farmers “bad news”.

In his weekly message to members, Feds president Wayne Langford says Fair for Farmers’ campaign - pushing for a ban on the import of products like pork and poultry not farmed to New Zealand standards - presents very real trade risks, particularly for dairy and red meat farmers.

He also takes aim at individuals and organisations behind Fair for Farmers.

“This is where things start to become particularly murky and disturbing,” he says.

“Because while they may have some local farmers fronting their messages here, there’s actually another outfit called Animal Policy International who are pulling the strings in the background.

“The group’s website reveals most of their funding seems to come from big international players involved in the vegan, plant-based, and alternative-protein scene.”

Langford says these include vegetarian cosmetics company LUSH, and a group called the Stray Dog Institute, whose mission is to “reduce, reform and replace the use of animals in the food system”.

Another funder is the USA-based Tiny Bean fund, whose stated aim is to help people “understand and address the complex problem of industrial food animal production”, he says.

“Does that really sound like a group with Kiwi farmers’ best interests at heart?

“If you still need convincing, just wait until you hear who else is involved,” he says.

Langford says the group’s co-executive director is Mandy Cartner, who spent seven years working for SAFE as their campaigns director in New Zealand.

Their public affairs manager, Mona Oliver, worked for SAFE as a campaigns officer for two years and has strong links to the Green Party.

The other co-founder, Rainer Kravets, previously served as a program manager at the Food Innovation Summit 2022, the largest alternative protein conference in the Nordics.

“When you look at that line up, I’m sure you’ll appreciate why Federated Farmers aren’t prepared to sit back and let some extreme activists question our commitment to our members.

“We’ve laid out the facts – and trust farmers are intelligent enough to come to their own conclusions about who’s really got their backs.”

Fair for Farmers spokesman and Waikato dairy farmers Wade Cavendish says NZ has made the democratic choice to ban practices like sow stalls and battery cages because they do not reflect Kiwi values.

“But more than 60% of the pork on our shelves is imported from countries still using the very systems we've outlawed.”

He says the Fair for Farmers campaign proposes a straightforward, commonsense fix to the “imports problem”: if it's illegal to produce here, it shouldn't be allowed to be sold here.

“We'd expect Federated Farmers to agree too. But in recent weeks, in public statements, their spokesperson has argued against restricting low-welfare imports - while also acknowledging our farmers are getting a raw deal. His solution? Better marketing and bigger stickers on bacon.

“Feds have got this one wrong, and we think the evidence shows it clearly.”