Dairy unity
OPINION: A last-minute compromise ensured that the election of the new Federated Farmers national dairy chair wasn't a repeat of the Super 15 rugby final - Canterbury versus Waikato.
Outgoing Federated Farmers leader Chris Lewis believes successive governments have failed to give farmers the chance to resolve key issues facing the agriculture sector.
The Waikato dairy farmer says that instead of telling farmers what to do, the Government should let farmers figure out the solution.
He says the current Labour Government is doing the same: telling farmers how to resolve issues like sustainability and climate change on farm.
Lewis told Rural News that the last National Government, led by John Key, acted the same in its first few years in office.
"National Government were bit like this current governmnet during the first few years in office," he says. "Then they realised they had a bit of problem in the polls and that's when they became a really good Government to work with the Feds."
He says the farming sector made the most gains when governments realised they couldn't be so arrogant.
The Labour Government has been under fire from farmers for unloading a slew of policies on the agriculture sector around water quality, climate change and winter grazing.
The relationship between Labour and Feds has been testy in recent years.
Lewis says skirmished between Feds and government aren't unusual.
"We had issues with the last National Government; don't get me wrong we butted heads with them," he told Rural News.
Lewis says it took a long while for Feds to convince current government ministers to accept they got it wrong kicking the farmer lobby out of a couple of things.
"Feds sits squarely in the place of being between the over ambition of Government policy and the practical realities of a rural community."
Lewis says being allowed back into the fold by Labour means "there was some truth in what we were saying". But he admits that Feds could have delivered the message better and not been as blunt as they were.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
This past week has seen another round of negotiations between India and New Zealand to produce a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Cautiously optimistic is how DairyNZ's regional manager for the lower North Island, Mark Laurence describes the mood of farmers in his patch.
The Infrastructure Commission has endorsed a plan by Chorus to expand fibre broadband to 95% of New Zealand much to the delight of rural women.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.