It’s tough being a farmer in New Zealand at the moment, National leader Christopher Luxon says.
Speaking at Fieldays, Luxon said the sector is being hit by “regulatory overload” that is confusing and at cross purposes.
“I often describe it like playing tennis and getting 10 tennis balls coming across at you at the same time,” he said.
A stock-take of the rules is needed to work out which ones are inconsistent or could have bad consequences.
Many of these new rules around wetlands, Significant Natural Areas, slopes and freshwater are also poorly drafted and contradictory and create huge stress and anxiety for the farming sector, Luxon said.
“What we are talking about is the pace and the rate of it and the inconsistency of it all that is adding up to a huge emotional stress for people.”
However, he said, that is not a signal a National-led government would not be interested in improving the sustainability practices of the farming sector.
He also ruled out binning any of NZ’s commitments around climate change and the government’s emissions reduction budget.
“We’re all in on the ends of where we need to get to. The means in which we deliver those ends will be different and is different.”
It just needs to be done in a sensible way.
“We do need to price agricultural emissions in this country and ultimately around the world, that’s what is going to happen. Our approach is to work with the sector rather than have the government jump to a conclusion and the sector’s gone, ‘That doesn’t make a lot of sense’.”
Luxon said farmers he has spoken to at Fieldays told him they are spending 30-40% of their time on compliance paperwork.
“It’s a tough business to be in and I think farmers are feeling very let down and beat up on and I think we need to turn our mindset around. It’s a fabulous and amazing industry and an industry we want our young people to go into.”
Farmers are doing everything asked of them by the public yet are struggling to stay afloat because of compliance costs.
Farming today has changed from as little as five years ago and will change again over the next decade. Farmers realise they have to combine sustainability and economics with farming and are on that path.
Global customers are expecting more from farmers – which they understand – and it was now just a question of how to navigate to that place, Luxon said.
Despite their economic contribution, he said, farmers feel they are not getting government support.
“They wake up each day, they work incredibly hard, they do everything right and they are trying to improve their sustainability practices yet the goalposts keep changing on them and they are never certain.
“We should be incredibly positive about this sector … it got us through the Global Financial Crisis, it got us through covid, and will get us through the tough times that are coming economically for New Zealand.
“We think the government shouldn’t be positioning this industry as a pack of villains. They are people who get things done and take this country forward,” he said.
