Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard has resigned amid rumours he will be candidate for the ACT Party at this year’s general elections.
A few days before yesterday’s announcement, Hoggard told Farmers Weekly that he had heard the rumours about his candidacy but declined to confirm or deny them.
“Right now the only certainty that I do know is that from July 6 [when his term ends] I will be working on the deferred maintenance on my farm,” Hoggard said at the time.
“Everything else is up in the air.”
In his resignation statement, the Manawatū dairy farmer said standing down was a difficult decision, but speculation about his future had made his role untenable.
“I want to make clear that my post-Feds plans aren’t what I would describe as 100% locked and loaded.
“You’ll no doubt hear more about it if anything is confirmed, but as the old saying goes, I don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched.”
By allowing Wayne Langford to step up as president, Hoggard said, the focus can remain on the practicality, affordability and good sense of policies that impact farming, instead of what he may do next.
Hoggard joined Federated Farmers 18 years ago and said during his career he always remained a hands-on farmer, delivering video messages to farmers while getting the cows in for milking.
