Their frustration was directed at both Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) representatives and the Government — organiser Hamish Carswell accusing B+LNZ of being ‘‘in the Government’s pocket’’.
A series of greenhouse gas calculator and action plan workshops began two years ago. More than 3700 farmers have attended 240 held to date. Yesterday, a workshop was held at Ardleigh Golf Course, on the outskirts of Palmerston.
B+LNZ partnered with Silver Fern Farms, AFFCO, catchment groups and Deer Industry New Zealand to delivery the workshops; the agriculture sector, through the He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) partnership, had a target that, by the end of 2022, all farmers would be required to know their greenhouse gas number, in preparation for agriculture having an emissions pricing regime in place by 2025.
The group gathered on the side of the road to the golf course, prior to the workshop being held, to ensure their feelings were passed on to those attending. Placard slogans included ‘‘BLNZ — a pine tree’s best friend’’; ‘‘farmers need strong advocacy’’; and ‘‘farming is our future’’.
Mr Carswell said there would not be a sheep and beef industry if HWEN continued as it stood. It was ‘‘unworkable’’ for farmers and he felt heated about it, as did everyone else he had spoken to.
‘‘We are levy payers. They [B+LNZ] are not listening to their levy payers; they need to listen. They are in the Government’s pocket,’ he said.
He wanted to ensure that both B+LNZ and the Government got the message that it was about the industry’s future, and farmers needed a workable solution. Farmers also needed leaders that would ‘‘advocate properly’’ for them, he said.
Three generations of the Roy family were represented; Bruce, who has been farming since he left school in 1965, his son, Iain, and his grandson, Nate.
Bruce Roy said he had ‘‘had a gutsful’’ and questioned why farming was being targeted.
‘‘This is the future they are talking about,’’ he said, indicating a placard which read ‘‘no farmers, no food’’.
‘‘This is why I’m here.’’
Mr Roy believed B+LNZ did a good job, but there was a point where they had to say, ‘‘this is ridiculous’’.
Mr Carswell said he hoped other farmers around the country would realise their futures were ‘‘on the line’’ and stage their own protests.
B+LNZ Central South Island farmer director Nicky Hyslop later told the Otago Daily Times the organisation understood the frustrations in the rural sector. Nobody wanted to be ‘‘paying a tax’’, including farmer directors.
It was a decision the Government made in 2019, and the organisation’s job, following that decision, was to ‘‘get as good an outcome’’ as they possibly could for sheep and beef farmers.
There were a lot of robust discussions within the HWEN partnership, and it tried to balance up the various equity impacts.
The Government had ‘‘just completely misread the room’’ in terms of how finely balanced that original HWEN proposal was and why things like price sensitivity and sequestration were so important, she said.
She thanked those farmers that had made submissions on the proposal, saying ‘‘the Government needs to really read the room here, there’s a real lack of confidence out there.’’
Farmers were responding to a bow wave of regulations — B+LNZ understood that, and was frustrated at some of the regulations outside of HWEN. There were policies the Government needed to be continuously pushed harder on to see sensible changes.
It was encouraging to see meat companies and banks also looking at challenges facing the sector and identifying there was a need for investment in research and development. That was a main objective of the original HWEN proposal and still remained a strong objective, she said.
