increase font size
Mark Hooper
There has been another twist to the Federated Farmers annual election fiasco.
A third nomination has been filed for the post of national president.
Feds national board member Mark Hooper’s nomination makes it a three-way battle between him, current president Wayne Langford and vice president, Colin Hurst.
Rural News understands that Hooper has been nominated as a back-up candidate if Langford’s nomination is disallowed at the annual meeting in Auckland later this month.
And if Langford gets enough votes to stay on for another year, Hooper will become his vice president.
Langford, who has served three years in the role, plans to stay on for another year, upsetting some Feds leaders. Traditionally, the Feds president serves for three years and then the vice president takes over.
Langford told Rural News that they will be an election this year for the president’s post.
“Elections are good - it means that members have got a chance to stand up and vote and it gives whoever is in charge a mandate to represent them,” he says.
Langford says he’s seeking to stay on for another year because Federated Farmers has just employed a new chief executive.
“It's standard good governance that you wouldn't replace your chair and hire a new CEO within the space of three or four months.
“We just want some stability for the organisation.
“We've also got an election (general election) coming up, and we've just announced our election platform.
“So, we've got to get that over the line for farmers.”
New Zealand's pest problem has reached crisis point, according to Federated Farmers' second National Pests Survey, which shows farmers are spending more money and effort on control — yet pest numbers keep climbing faster than they were two years ago.
Despite political shenanigans in Wellington, farmers are confident that Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms will get over the line in this term of Parliament.
The Government has announced it will pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1 (PC1) in a decision that is set to give Waikato farmers a reprieve from new consenting and farm-planning requirements while the wider resource management system is overhauled.
OPINION: As the general election approaches, political parties are churning out policies in the hope of attracting more votes.
Federated Farmers president Colin Hurst and his family raised a glass of milk last week to toast the start of a new addition to their farming operation at Makihihi, south of Timaru.
OPINION: In politics, credibility is and should be big. It must surely rank higher than charisma, which is quite trite and superficial. Yet, voters nowadays are often wooed and influenced by how someone looks or talks at a superficial level. TV plays a huge role in this.
Farmers can spend less time on paperwork, thanks to a new data sharing agreement between DairyNZ’s DairyBase and LIC’s MINDA software.
Kaikōura families affected by July's severe storm have found a practical solution to a problem that's kept some children away from regular schooling for weeks: a washed-out section of Inland Kaikōura Road, which has stopped the local school bus from running its usual route.
Rural New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s recent package of rural healthcare initiatives.
Interest in agritech and production animal systems has prompted Massey University's School of Agriculture and the Environment to new majors to its popular animal science degree.
Ballance Agrinutrients chief executive Kelvin Wickham says despite a tough year, he is pleased the business has returned to profit.
OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…
