Farming in a brave new world

It’s almost Fieldays time,

says.

It’s coming up to that time of the year when the national Fieldays are again hosted at Mystery Creek. The Fieldays provide an opportunity for all farmers to assemble at one point to meet up with old friends, field reps for various suppliers.

It also provides farmers with the opportunity it see what is new in innovation on and off the farm machinery and plant specials.

It also provides farmers with the chance to interact with some of the movers and shakers whose policies will determine how we live and work in our agribusinesses both today and in the future.

With that in mind Federated Farmers will again have a stand at the Fieldays to meet up with members, speak to farmers and to guide and assist agribusiness owners with future policies that councils and government are looking at implementing.

Our theme is ‘Farming in a brave new world’.

That platform gives wide scope to discuss agricultural topics of interest for coming generations of the farming community.

There has been much discussion lately from farmers, especially hill country farmers in the Waikato, around Plan Change 1 (PC1) and what the implications will be for them.

While the outcome of submissions is yet to be determined, Federated Farmers has commissioned a groundtruthing study, an evaluation plan and financially assisted a hill country farmers’ economic analysis as well as constantly monitoring and refining the science that PC1 has been based on.

I would challenge those farmers who have been critical of our effort to read and compare the Federated Farmers’ submission on PC1.

They should then come along to our stand at the Fieldays to discuss your thoughts and opinions with myself and policy staff.

The federation is New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation and consists of 24 provinces and associated branches.

That gives farmers a collective voice at both a national and provincial level.

Policy is member-driven and members’ views are canvassed by staff and elected representatives who formulate submissions to help local and central government decision making.

We canvassed extensively before completing our PC1 submission. There is still a lot of conjecture and misinformation out there in the regions despite past president Chris Lewis and other elected members’ attempts to keep everyone informed.

The Fieldays will provide all farmers a great opportunity to ask questions on a one-on-one basis with Federated Farmers staff. Our site is PB46.

I challenge all those farmers who want to know more to come talk to us and get an opportunity for some great giveaways, prizes, and product specials.

I’ll see you there. Andrew McGiven is Waikato Federated Farmers president.