Federated Farmers Golden Bay Meat & Wool Chairperson Pax Leetch missed out on attending the National Council in Wellington earlier this year because he was couch-bound. We’re going to leave his story in his own words – a episode he re-told in the province’s newsletter with a view to inspiring other farmers to stay safe. […]
Health and Wellness
Call for seat belts on school buses
Federated Farmers transport and health & safety spokesperson Karen Williams is asking rural residents to sign a petition calling for a law change requiring seat belts in school buses. Philippa (Pip) Cameron, who farms on Otematata Station in the Waitaki Valley, lodged the petition with Parliament on 6 April. The closing date for signatures is […]
The essential power of gratitude – Essential Day
Kim Tay of the NZ Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience explains why focusing on what’s good is vital for our resilience in the battle against Covid-19… This time a year ago, the whole of Aotearoa (and indeed the wider world) stepped up for the first big Covid lockdown. Together our nation united to face the […]
Government agency thirsty for more water rules
A new government agency charged with improving national drinking water standards is trying to find more than 50,000 water suppliers, many of whom will be farmers supplying a handful of households. The new agency called ‘Taumata Arowai’ opened its doors on March 1. It wants to register water suppliers so they can be monitored and […]
Meat the Need and make a difference for hungry NZ families
Farmers grapple with all sorts of challenges on a daily basis but putting healthy food on the table is not usually one of them. But there are Kiwi families who struggle on that front, which is why Wayne Langford is keen to remind people about Meat the Need. Left: Wayne Langford, co-founder of Meat the […]
Ten reasons why we love to farm
By Bernadette Hunt, Vice-President Federated Farmers Southland In the face of constant news about all the challenges farmers face, I’ve been asked several times lately why farmers do what we do. So this morning, as I walked up and down the tractor lines of an oats paddock looking for weeds (one of arable farming’s more […]
Sharing a farm with the public
Kate Scott, a Federated Farmers member, is the co-owner of remote Rees Valley Station, near Glenorchy. Thousands of people visit her farm each year. Late last year she talked to the Walking Access Commission/Ara Hīkoi Aotearoa about why she and her family support public access and what it’s like to have a stream of tourists on […]
A Christmas message of thanks from Federated Farmers
Before Federated Farmers farewells 2020, it wants to salute and thank some generally unsung heroes. “We all got used to talking about clusters of infection with Covid-19, but in another sense that word cluster is somewhat apt for the entire year,” Feds President Andrew Hoggard says. “It could have been a lot worse for our […]
Stalled boarding allowance a barrier to equitable education access
Federated Farmers intends ramping up political pressure for a long overdue increase to the school access barrier boarding allowance. This follows a Feds’ survey of farming families which revealed substantial costs and family disruption from the access barrier board allowance being totally outstripped by the fees that boarding schools charge. Average state boarding school fees […]
Bare-all calendar raises spirits – and funds
In a time when Hawke’s Bay farmers were experiencing a drought like no other since the 1980s as well as dealing with the consequences of COVID19, Poppy Renton wanted to reach out and foster a dose of community spirit. The daughter of a fifth generation Hawke’s Bay farmer working the land at Maraekakaho, west of […]