Groundswell was New Zealand's largest organisation in terms of subscribed grassroots farmers, growers and supporters and believed the Prime Minister should meet it for a discussion, "not pigeonhole us with the establishment industry body lobbyists", McKenzie said.
Groundswell has held two protests, Howl of a Protest and Mother of All Protests, which attracted massive turnouts.
Asked whether more protest action was planned, McKenzie said the group was "a little bit gun shy".
"It could give a platform for some unsavoury people to flex their muscles."
He was confident the group continued to have strong support and he was particularly grateful for the support shown from urban-dwellers.
At the moment, Groundswell was focused on He Waka Eke Noa - it had put together its own alternative to the partnership to reduce primary sector emissions - and the Water Services Bill, which would affect all rural properties, McKenzie said.
It was established that New Zealand farmers were the most greenhouse gas-efficient producers of food in the world, he said.
Conscious of the need to be professional, the group had employed a company to do its communications work as it "tried to smarten things up a bit".
His involvement with Groundswell was all-consuming, but it was not something he would walk away from, he said.
"At the end of the day, I think it needs to be done. Someone's got to stand up and say they [the Government] are wrong," he said.
Farmers were under a lot of pressure; in the South, they were facing drought conditions, there were also record input prices and "all the stuff we are being bombarded with".
At one of the protests, a farmer commented that the event made him feel proud to be a farmer; that made him feel terrible - the fact that farmers could not be proud all the time when they were "supporting the whole economy of the country".
"Things like that keep you going," he said.
