Editorial: Restoring respect, confidence

Judging by the reception the PM and his Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and rural MPs got from the crowd, confidence is returning to farms: the farming sector is finally getting the respect it rightly deserves.

Over the past year, the Government has kept its election promise and delivered practical reforms to reduce costs, cut red tape, provide certainty, and get Wellington out of farming.

McClay started off by saying that farmers and rural communities are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy: 80% of all goods exports come from the primary sector; more than 359,000 Kiwis are employed because of rural activity; farming, forestry, and horticulture remain a mainstay of NZ economic activity.

The Government’s ambitious target of doubling exports by value over ten years is an opportunity to work with the primary sector to add value and deliver greater returns at the farm gate.

Cutting costs and red tape in the ag sector has been a priority. The Government has introduced practical rules for on-farm water storage, restored common sense to regulations for intensive winter grazing and stock exclusion, halved Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) charges for forest owners, paused the rollout of Freshwater Farm Plans and repealed the burdensome Log Traders legislation.

Importantly for farmers, the Government has provided clarity on emissions by disbanding the previous government’s failed He Waka Eke Noa partnership, launching an independent review of methane targets and passing legislation to remove agriculture from the ETS.

However, there’s still some unfinished business, fixing freshwater rules and the RMA to give farmers more certainty being the main ones.

The mood at the Feds meeting marked a stark difference from the previous government approach of piling regulations on the farming sector with little or no consultation. PM Luxon hit the nail on the head when he said the relationship between the Government and the farming sector “wasn’t a parent-child relationship, but an adult-adult relationship”.

The mood at the Feds meeting marked a stark difference from the previous government approach of piling regulations on the farming sector with little or no consultation. PM Luxon hit the nail on the head when he said the relationship between the Government and the farming sector “wasn’t a parent-child relationship, but an adult-adult relationship”.

He says it’s no longer about the Government telling farmers what to do. It’s getting Wellington out of farming and trusting farmers to deliver for New Zealand.