New Zealand is too small to have a rural/urban divide, Waikato Federated Farmers president Andrew McGiven told Monday's farming rally in Morrinsville on Monday.
"We'd like to say to our urban cousins, be fully informed, because we'd all like the opportunity to re-engage with you," he said.
Federation national board member Chris Lewis said rather than attacking politicians and farming critics, the "gathering" was a deliberate attempt to tell the positive stories of farmers - what they put back into rural communities by their spending, employing staff, volunteering for school boards, fire brigades, the more than $1 million raised via the IHC calf project and the work the vast majority did to improve the environment.
Mr McGiven and Morrinsville farmer Lloyd Downing organised the rally because of the "bad rap" those who work the land had been getting in the lead-up to the election.
Judging from the turnout, estimated at 500-600 by those used to counting the size of a herd, that was a concern shared by many.