Forest & Bird » Freshwater

the activist farmer fringe

(5 posts)
  • Started 1 year ago

  1. brent
    User Profile

    well some water flowed under the bridge today with the signing of the River Accord for the Manawatu.

    nice to see that Federated Farmers are the only group to stage a last minute pull out from the new Accord for the water quality Manawatu River. and great to see the work put in by all parties to reach this point. The Feds on their way to becoming an increasingly marginalised voice representing fewer and fewer farmers given the diminishing appetite for their short sighted rhetoric. Feds need to pause to read and digest the KPMG report which states we have a very short time as a country to switch from being a high volume low cost producer to being a high value producer. time for Federated Farmers to smarten up and take the long view.

    BusinessWire story on KPMG report.
    http://business.scoop.co.nz/2010/04/19/nz-has-5-year-window-to-improve-farming-kpmg/

    Manawatu River Accord as reported on TVNZ 9 August 2010
    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pact-signed-clean-up-dirty-manawatu-3689871

    a couple pix attached of the river....

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    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. Tawaki
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    It is a tragedy that Federated Farmers are not at the forefront of promoting New Zealand's green credentials.

    Today's performance of Fed Farmers is also such a major contrast to when Sir Peter Elworthy was President of the Feds in the 1980s. Then they were prepared to take the pain, agree that subsidies to destroy marginal land were stupid and the farming community played a leading role in conservation initiatives.

    A ruthless uncompromising attitude seems to prevail now summed up best by the attitude of the Pork Industry Board but echoed by the attitudes towards rivers like the Manawatu.

    It is immensely frustrating, for those of us working in export focused industries, that Federeated Farmers intransigence on getting actively involved in cleaning up our waters and farming performance puts at risk New Zealand's whole international image.

    Maybe the attitude has been taken that Asia is the new growth market for our farm produce. Asia doesn't care about environmental stuff half as much as the Europeans and US markets so NZ Farmers will just ignore those "old " markets and focus instead on selling to Asia.

    I think their lack of committiment in working with others towards environmental accords like the Manawatu cleanup is a real tragedy.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. Kim
    User Profile

    Hi Brent, I read the article you posted, and came away thinking - what does this mean? Has there been clear goals set out, or is it just a woolly agreement to keep just clean up the river somewhat? Is the accord even worthwhile now that the Feds aren't one of the signatories?

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. kukupa
    User Profile

    Can't the council make the Farmer clean up their act?

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    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. brent
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    Re Kim's query - the accord commits leaders to making a clear plan with goals and performance indicators. obviously it will need good community support for those leaders to keep it a priority so it is well implemented.

    While the community thinks it would have been better if the Feds had decided to be onside from day one (having been around the table for the months prior), there are a few things to keep in mind.

    1. their organisation represents less than half of NZ farmers (that in itself raises some interesting discussion points).

    2. all of the organisations they pay rates to and operate under consent from have signed the Accord.

    3. all the organisations they sell their production to have signed the Accord.

    which makes one think that the smart thing for them to do would have been to sign the Accord (which they may yet do). instead - what they've done has attracted the ire of a local mayor who happens to be a member - although perhaps for not much longer... story here

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/4007819/Farmers-river-move-irks-mayor

    Posted 1 year ago #

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