Groundswell NZ puts views to Jacinda Ardern, James Shaw and Damien O’Connor

Groundswell NZ co-founder Bryce McKenzie (left) and Laurie Paterson. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

“A healthy exchange of information” is how Groundswell New Zealand co-founder Laurie Paterson describes yesterday’s meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Wellington.

Paterson and co-founder Bryce McKenzie, accompanied by several other representatives of the farmer advocacy group, secured a 30-minute audience with Ardern which lasted for more than an hour.

Also present were Climate Change Minister James Shaw, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, who left part-way through for another engagement, and fellow ministers Meka Whaitiri and Kieran McAnulty, along with staff.

Speaking as he prepared to travel home to his Greenvale, West Otago, farm, Paterson said the intention was to tell Ardern and her ministers about what it was like for grassroots farmers and he believed they achieved that.

They pushed hard on the impact on farmers’ mental health due to the “absolute avalanche of things being dumped on them” and how some farmers were thinking about walking away from the industry as it had “got too much”.

They also said the widespread conversion of farmland into trees had to stop and pointed out it was happening on good farming land, not just poor ground.

“I’m sure they took it on board. We were pretty forceful about it,” he said.

“Most of the talking was done by the PM and James Shaw but they certainly listened to what we had to say and we didn’t mince words,” he said.

Groundswell had repeatedly asked for a meeting with Ardern and been snubbed, but after recently writing to both her and Shaw, they received the timeslot.

Paterson believed the visit was worthwhile.

“I like to hope they did appreciate getting information right from the grassroots”.

There were indications of possibly further meetings, he said.

While they did not have a “massive list of achievements” to tell Groundswell supporters, that was not their expectation.

“It’s really about making sure they’re under absolutely no illusions about where grassroots farmers are.”

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said there was a sharing of information and views, as was the case with the regular meetings she had with farming sector groups.