By Andrew Hoggard, President Federated Farmers of NZ Now is not the time for New Zealand to water down ambitions for a significant, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade deal with the European Union. If anything, with all the extra uncertainty, cost and supply chain disruption from COVID, Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and tense geopolitical […]
The perils of spending other people’s money – what Feds wants from the May Budget
By Andrew Hoggard, President Federated Farmers of NZ It’s easy to spend other people’s money and this Government is proving to be expert at it. Unfortunately, it has not been so expert at spending it wisely or caring much about value for money. The Auditor-General reported at the end of March that a $290 million […]
Climate change and food security: We should act on both because it’s the right thing to do
Federated Farmers are currently working with a wide range of stakeholders on how to best develop an appropriate pricing mechanism that achieves a wide range of outcomes. This partnership is called He Waka Eke Noa, or The Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership and the outcomes sought include reducing emissions, maintaining food production, and protecting the […]
Emissions pricing could put billion dollar hit on earnings, but no hit on global emissions
By Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers President and climate change spokesperson In discussions on He Waka Eke Noa proposals with farmers I’m often asked “how does this all square with the Paris Agreement, and the multiple mentions the text of the Agreement makes on needing to make emissions reductions but not at the cost of food […]
Weighing the pros and cons of He Waka Eke Noa options
By Andrew Hoggard, President Federated Farmers NZ For those wondering what Feds’ position on He Waka Eke Noa is – well, at this stage my opinion hasn’t changed from what I outlined prior to Christmas. Both options have some benefits over the ETS, the ‘backstop’ alternative imposed by the Government, they each have positives and […]
Letter to Ministers Shaw and O’Connor
1 November 2021 Hon James ShawMinister of Climate ChangeWellington Hon Damien O’ConnorMinister of AgricultureMinister for Rural CommunitiesWellington Dear Ministers, Progressing He Waka Eke Noa As you will hopefully be aware, the He Waka Eke Noa partnership is nearing a key farmer consultation phase, including consideration of pricing mechanism options.It is important that any pricing mechanism […]
Andrew Hoggard’s email to the Minister of Agriculture prior to the Groundswell Protest
From: Andrew Hoggard Sent: Wednesday, 14 July 2021 2:04 PM To: D OConnor (MIN) D.OConnor@ministers.govt.nz Cc: Karen Williams ; Terry Copeland > Subject: Farmer Protests Hi Damien, Just wanted to let you know around the stance Federated Farmers will be taking on the planned farmer protests on Friday. Whilst these protests haven’t been organised by […]
Bleak picture ahead on rising rates demands
Federated Farmers has produced the 13th edition of our annual rates report newsletter. In it we provide detail on our local policy work on rates and local government funding along with coverage of the major developments impacting council funding and financing this year and, in the years to come. In the unprecedented times of early […]
Farmers walking the talk on climate change
OPINION: With the government declaring a climate emergency, it’s timely to recap what actions farmers are taking to further reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. I say ‘further reduce’ deliberately. We’re already ahead of many other dairy and meat producing nations on the greenhouse gas front. While the global average for emissions from milk production, processing, and transport […]