Christopher Luxon’s plan to cut farming red tape brings hope to Taranaki farmers - Carl Bates

Carl Bates MP, with Matt Dimock (left) and Matt McDonald at a Stratford Business Association following a positive discussion that included the importance of the rural and farming sector to Stratford's local businesses.

THREE KEY FACTS:

• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Action Plan aims to reduce red tape and regulatory burdens for farmers.
• The coalition Government has stopped agriculture from being included in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and disestablished climate change initiative, He Waka Eke Noa.
• Legislation will also limit forestry conversions on prime pastoral land and enable safe gene technology use in farming.

Carl Bates is the MP for Whanganui

OPINION

Farmers in the Stratford and South Taranaki districts should feel encouraged by what they see in the Action Plan announced by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for the last quarter of 2024.

One of the complaints I hear most frequently is that farmers are being suffocated by red tape, with compliance issues demanding more of their time than hands-on farming.

National pledged during last year’s election campaign to “get Wellington out of farming” and I believe the coalition Government is now delivering on that promise with six of the targets having what I consider to be direct, positive implications for rural New Zealand.

Firstly, the Government intends to pass the first Resource Management Amendment Bill, reducing the regulatory burden on farmers and the rural sector.

Ministers will introduce a second RMA Amendment Bill to cut through the tangle of red and green tape holding back growth in the infrastructure, energy, housing, and farming sectors.

Next, the Government intends to finalise the development of farm-level emissions measurement methodology, and pass legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme.

The conversion of prime pastoral land to forestry is of concern to many in the rural sector so the Government will, by then end of the year, announce policy to limit farm conversions to forestry on high-quality land.

Allowing forestry conversions to continue unabated is, I believe, a significant threat to New Zealand’s reputation as a food producer.

Lastly, the Government will introduce legislation to remove the prohibition on GE, enabling the safe use of gene technology in farming and other sectors.

Gene technology has advanced exponentially in the past decade and is now considered mainstream and safe.

New Zealand has been at the forefront of research into breeding stock that emit less methane, and the development of feeds to reduce animal emissions.

As the member of Parliament for our electorate, an electorate with many people either farming or relying on the success of our rural sector, it is clear to me how important this quarterly plan is for us.

The coalition Government is focused on getting Wellington out of farming and allowing our farmers to do what they do best; focus on producing some of the world’s highest-quality proteins.

So the OCR is down by 75 basis points in the past two months, global prices have increased, especially dairy, and the Government has less say in farmers’ day-to-day lives.

This means as we head into the last part of 2024, our farmers can look forward with a degree of optimism.

In my opinion, our farmers and our rural communities that rely on them, deserve nothing less.