Politicians add to Rotorua's aroma
Released 08 Jul 2011
James Houghton, Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president
The sulphurous smell of Rotorua was compounded by some political speeches at last week's Federated Farmers National Annual General Meeting and Conference. Labour leader Phil Goff certainly added to the aroma, stating agriculture would be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2013 under a Labour led government. His insistence on further taxing New Zealand farmers, ahead of any other farmer in the world and with no evidence it would make a scrap of difference to global temperatures, is bewildering. Aside from the debate on climate change, he ignores that farmers pay hefty emissions taxes on fuel, fertiliser and every other item necessary to running a farm business. Hardly surprising though, coming from a political party which isolated the year that most farmers made an average net loss of $58,000 to "show" that they avoided taxes altogether. I suggest Labour needs to talk to some new accountants before seeking to regain the reins of power.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman was on the attack, saying farmers needed to stop bashing scientists. I found this hypocritical given the bashing thrown at farmers daily, both by scientists and Dr Norman's ideological party. He had a slideshow of selected scientific reports which he claimed formed "overwhelming evidence" that dairying was the main contributor to water quality issues around the country. The fact is the Federation and New Zealand's farming community acknowledge the place of objective science in resolving environmental problems and actively engages with scientists and central and local government to do our bit. Rather than bashing us, people should pay more attention to the huge amount of work farmers do to protect the environment. This includes scientifically proven ways to minimise effluent runoff and also protecting huge tracts of native bush and biodiversity.
As a group who want to farm for generations to come, it is in our own and our childrens' interest that we do so. It is also in the nation's interest that we be able to farm productively and efficiently to continue a tradition of agricultural excellence. This conference saw a number of changes in the Federation's board. Hawke's Bay farmer Bruce Wills was elected as the Federation's new president and South Canterbury sheep and beef farmer William Rolleston elected vice-president. Willy Leferink of Mid-Canterbury is our new Dairy chairperson and Jeanette Maxwell of North Canterbury is our Meat & Fibre chairperson. The Waikato contingent was disappointed that our former provincial president Stew Wadey was not voted onto the board, but he will continue to play an active role as part of the Waikato provincial executive.
I remind farmers in the Lake Taupo catchment that they now have six months from July 7 to get a resource consent to continue to farm. These consents are unfortunately Waikato Regional Council's extreme measure under Variation 5 of the Regional Plan to cap and reduce nitrogen (N) loss. Farmers in the catchment are very aware of their obligations, having had this matter drag out nearly 10 years through to the Environment Court from when it was first proposed. In another environmental matter, I hope the opposing sides in the long running battles over governance of the Maungatautari Ecological Island can also find a way to work together. This is an amazing community asset which will benefit the whole community, our kids and our grandchildren. The threats and the actions which are damaging what has been created have to stop.
Let's focus instead on what is really important, Maungatautari.
