Hopes Luxon will support farmers another year

Local farmers are hopeful that the government will prioritise them this year following Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s state of the nation speech.
Luxon said his focus is on economic growth, whether that’s from foreign investment or supporting our local industries.
He said the agriculture industry was the country’s financial foundation.
“We [need] to make life a lot easier for our farmers, and back them to compete with the world.
“Because farmers are the heart of our economy; when they’re doing well, it actually benefits every single Kiwi, and I back them.”
He said the agriculture sector needs to embrace new research and technologies.
“Enabling gene technology is about backing farmers, it's about embracing growth, and it's about saying yes instead of no.”
“I [want] New Zealand’s scientists working on high-yield crop variants, and solutions to agricultural emissions, that don’t drive farmers off their land and risk the very foundation of the New Zealand economy.”
Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers president David Acland said our local industry was ahead of the game.
“Mid Canterbury is at the forefront of agricultural technology.
“The seed crop industry in this area are some of the biggest players in the country.
“And there are a whole lot of private science organisations that we don’t see or hear about doing good work, too.”
Luxon also said his government would prioritise science and announced the formation of four Crown science institutes who are responsible for; bioeconomy, earth sciences, health and forensic science and advanced technologies.
“I want us to commercialise our brilliant ideas, so that our science system makes us all wealthier, because we are going for growth,” Luxon said.
Acland said investment in the sciences was “absolutely critical to the future of ag in Mid Canterbury.”
Chief executive of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Alison Stewart said farmers were willing to try new things “if they can see the value proposition.”
“Growers have a farm business to run, and they have to balance the introduction of new tools and technologies with the cost of implementation versus the extra value it is going to deliver.”
She said the “flip flopping” decisions made by changing governments each election cycle had created a tough environment for farmers, but many still pursued experimental methods and tools.
“There are growers out there who are always exploring new ways of doing things, and then there are other farmers who, for whatever reason, are comfortable just managing their farm in a fairly standard way.
“And then there are other farmers who would love to innovate, but are not in a financial situation to do that.
“You get that eclectic mix in all regions.”
Luxon said his government would continue prioritising the RMA reforms, promising to at least introduce the reform legislation to parliament this year.
“The RMA system is fundamentally broken, and everyone knows it, and it needs to be replaced.”
The overarching theme was that he’d aim to bring money into the country, and create stable jobs and living costs to keep Kiwis from leaving the country.
“A growing economy gives Kiwis more choices.”
By Anisha Satya