Thursday, 04 December 2014 00:00

Feds look at ‘refresh’ for more cohesion

Written by 
Federated Farmers President William Rolleston Federated Farmers President William Rolleston

FEDERATED FARMERS is undergoing a ‘strategy refresh’, as revealed to Rural News by president William Rolleston at the national council meeting in Wellington last month. It involves discussions with all provincial presidents, assisted by a management consultant. 

 This is the first formal meeting of Rolleston and the new board with the national council since the annual conference in July.  

Rolleston says they had “two good days of looking quietly inwardly at their strategy”.

“A strategy refresh is always appropriate when you have a new chief executive and chairman. The federation is in good heart, but what we are looking at how we can work better as a team across the provinces. We have many capable people spread across the country and we need to be well coordinated with our messaging and how we service everybody.” 

Rolleston says the ‘refresh’ is not a radical shift in the organisation. The present staff structure is appropriate and has been built up over a number of years, he says.

The refresh identified key policies for attention, including water, climate change, health and safety, and science and innovation. 

Human capability is a big issue, Rolleston says. “That comes into our science and innovation slot. Is the right training being done, do we have the right capabilities in science and are we producing the right graduates? 

“In the schools a lot of teachers don’t understand agriculture or science and where they fit into society. 

“We need to up that messaging so that young people can see there are worthwhile careers in farming and agribusiness.”

Agriculture is becoming technical and the sector needs to make sure that it has skills to stay ahead of the world.

More leadership needed

PRIME MINISTER John Key and Labour’s agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor addressed the national council meeting

O’Connor says the primary sector needs leadership, not leaders. There are many leaders in the agribusiness sector, but overall it lacks leadership and cohesion. NZ needs people to ask the hard questions  about what the country is doing, what it needs to do and how to achieve this.

“New Zealand is a small country with valuable but limited resources and huge opportunities for success.  But as a society we have become a bit more selfish and have decided to [exploit] our own individual opportunities and have lost sight of the broader vision. The National government is happy to be market led, but not be market leaders.” 

O’Connor says traditionally people have looked to governments to show necessary leadership, but he says to be fair this shouldn’t all come from government. He suggested the Feds had a role to play in this.

Meanwhile, John Key warned delegates that a bottom line for the public is that farmers’ can only increase production as long as they don’t harm the environment. He says this is a challenge for farmers and one the public won’t buy excuses on.

“In recent years Federated Farmers have taken a responsible view of that issue. Dairy companies such as Fonterra have been in the forefront of that by encouraging farmers to fence 23,000km of waterways that have dairy cows next to them. It will be compulsory to do that come 2017 and I am confident farmers will get there before then anyway.”

Key believes the public understand the importance of agriculture and for the most part are hugely supportive. But he says they won’t be if they see farmers trashing the environment. However, Key says the public also need to realise that farmers are spending their own money to improve their environmental footprint.

“The people who argue that farmers don’t do their bit in caring about the environment need to get out onfarm and have look at what farmers have to do now compared with what they had to do six years ago. Regulations have toughened up,” he says.

 

More like this

Rural backlash over plan to cut police staffing

Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Bex Green says two public meetings held this week should have made it loud and clear that rural families and businesses are concerned about proposed staffing changes at NZ Police.

Editorial: Getting RMA settings right

OPINION: The Government has been seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to a range of Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction instruments.

Farmers back Government pause on RMA plan changes

There's been widespread support from the primary sector for the Government's move to put the brakes on local authorities to do any more work on planning changes ahead of major changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Featured

T&G Global returns to profitability

Fresh produce grower and exporter T&G Global has overturned last year’s dismal performance by reporting a half year net profit of $1.7 million.

Rural backlash over plan to cut police staffing

Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Bex Green says two public meetings held this week should have made it loud and clear that rural families and businesses are concerned about proposed staffing changes at NZ Police.

DairyNZ thanks farm staff

August 6 marks Farm Worker Appreciation Day, a moment to recognise the dedication and hard mahi of dairy farm workers across Aotearoa - and DairyNZ is taking the opportunity to celebrate the skilled teams working on its two research farms.

Editorial: Getting RMA settings right

OPINION: The Government has been seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to a range of Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction instruments.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Trop de Paris!

OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly…

NZ vs Aussie beef

OPINION: Your old mate hears that at a recent China Business Summit, PM Christopher Luxon delivered a none-too-subtle "could try…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter