“I think you can tell by the way that the provinces have moved that they were obviously looking for a pretty significant change and so the majority will be pretty happy with where it’s gone.
“And, now it’s time to get to work with the new government to get the rural sector cranking again.”
Langford said farmers did not disagree with Labour’s direction for the sector - including pricing agriculture emissions - but it was the pace of change that was concerning.
“We just couldn’t keep up. Federated Farmers surveys have shown that farmer confidence is at an all-time low.
“In fact, it’s never been so low ... so in a state like that, you can see why people would want a change of government and some new direction.”
Labour wanted to charge farmers for on-farm emissions by 2025.
National has said it will push that out to 2030.
Meanwhile, Act does not think farmers should pay unless our key trading partners are enforcing similar taxes.
Langford said the timeframe will enable the sector to get its numbers in order and for mitigating technologies to advance further.
“We’re looking forward to working with National... as a group, we put forward a list of 12 key priorities to build farmer confidence and National has agreed to all of them.
“Simple things, like getting rid of the ute tax and letting young farmers use their KiwiSaver to help buy their first farm.”
Federated Farmers was looking forward to holding the National Party to account, Langford said.
What would a National-led government mean for farmers?
During the campaign, National released its Getting Back to Farming policy.
Here’s some of what the party wants to do.
- Double the RSE cap from 19,000 to 38,000 over the next five years.
- Change investment screening rules to prevent foreign investors from buying farms for the purpose of carbon farming.
- Reinstate the export of live animals by sea with gold standard rules in regulation to protect animal welfare and safety.
- Scrap nationwide low-slope maps and replace them with catchment-level rules that are more consistent with local conditions.
- Defer winter grazing consents until rules for freshwater farm plans are finalised.
- Simplify culvert rules in the National Environmental Standards for Fresh Water.
A new cohort of rural MPs
The voice of rural New Zealand will be well-represented in the new government after a cohort of farmers has been elected.
Most notable of the new cohort is former Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard.
He did not win the Rangitīkei electorate, but Act’s 8.98 per cent result in the party vote means he is set to be part of the 11-strong Act caucus.
It is the same with the Green Party’s Scott Willis, who grew up on a farm in Otago and is number 12 on the party list.
There are also five new National MPs with farming sector backgrounds.
In Northland, beef and dairy farmer Grant McCallum comfortably won his seat.
Suze Redmayne, who has a sheep, beef and forestry farm, beat Hoggard in Rangitīkei.
Southburn-based farmer Miles Anderson won the Waitaki seat.
Masterton-based sheep and beef farmer Mike Butterick pushed Labour’s Kieran McAnulty out of Wairarapa.
And Dana Kirkpatrick, who also comes from a farming background, won East Coast.
The former Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor appears to have lost his West Coast/Tasman seat, which he has held since 1996.
Yesterday he was trailing Maureen Pugh by 915 votes before special votes were counted.
However he is placed at number 10 on Labour’s list, so his long political career looks set to continue.
- RNZ
