Budget 2023: Federated Farmers releases wish list

Feds says it wants the Government to stop weighing farmers down with regulations. File photo / Amos Chapple

Federated Farmers’ acting president Wayne Langford has released the organisation’s wish list ahead of Budget 2023, and they are asking for… absolutely nothing.

“Farmers aren’t looking for any sort of handout from Government in the Budget and are happy to stand on our own two feet,” Langford said in a press release.

“All we really want is for the Government to stop weighing us down with impractical, unpragmatic and unfair regulations so we can get on with doing what we do best - farming.”

Langford said the country needed farmers now more than ever, especially with a looming recession, rising interest rates and a cost-of-living crisis.

“New Zealand needs our farmers to be firing on all cylinders...creating jobs, exports and income for our country.”

Langford said people were doing it tough at the moment, and in a country that produced as much high-quality food as New Zealand, nobody should be going hungry or without.

“We don’t just have a cost-of-living crisis in this country, we have a cost-of-farming crisis too.”

When farmers’ costs increase, they couldn’t just pass them on, so they ended up getting squeezed in the middle and struggled to turn a profit, he said.

“Kiwi farmers are damn good at what we do but we are being absolutely hamstrung by impractical and unfair regulations that slow us down, heap on costs, and suck the joy out of farming.”

Federated Farmers didn’t want the Prime Minister to focus on the “bread and butter issues” this Budget, Langford said.

“We want him to focus on making it a little easier for us to produce that bread and butter too.”

Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Wayne Langford on The Country below:

Of course, Feds wants the Government to be investing in things like the cyclone recovery, mental health support, digital connectivity and sorting out pothole-riddled roads, Langford said.

“But we don’t just want that for farmers, we want it for all New Zealanders - repairing infrastructure and supporting communities impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle must be a top priority.”