June 7, 2026 • 7 mins
Federated Farmers has launched a five-point plan for the next government, setting out what it says should be a major focus for political parties heading into the November election. President Wayne Langford says the organisation’s election platform, Backing Kiwi Farmers, is a practical blueprint for whichever parties form the next government.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's introduce onto the country friend of the country, President
of Federated Farmers, Wayne Langford, and the song is that's
what friends are for. I'm starting to feel like I'm
not loved by as much by Federated Farmers as much
as I should be, Jack Tame yesterday here the dup
la c allen At this morning, Wayne Langford, I feel
(00:21):
like a jilted bride at the altar you've done to
me for Jack and Heather good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, Jamie, you could feel like that, or you could
feel like a farmer and actually work on the weekends.
Maybe that would be good. Good to get our election
platform out there, and we are underway for election twenty
twenty six. It's going to be a big couple of
months coming up. Of course, there're still worth some week
to go before they shut down the government in September.
(00:48):
But our platform is online and where we go.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Wayne, I spend a lot of time on the weekends
tilling the soil. That's called golf anyhow. Okay, So twenty
twenty three, you guys at Federated Farmers had twelve key
demands and I think you've managed to get them all
across the line or the government has in the intervening
three years. This year, it's only a five strong election
(01:13):
year wish list. Have you run out of things to
moan about wine?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No, definitely not. You're right. Twelve points to restore a
farmer confidence with our last last platform, and it was
a significant one. There was some big bold issues in there,
you know, replacing their rima and that sort of thing,
and so we were really getting the big samurai saw it.
I guess out to cut through some of that. Now
(01:38):
we're probably coming back in with a scalp, i'd say,
and it's time to start improving those small issues or
they're still big issues for farmers. But how can we
start to get these ten percent wins that are going
to improve productivity across the farming nation.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Okay, let's have a look at these five and we'll
just swept through them quickly because there's sort of subsets
to each of them. I mean, you've got like five
subsets to each subject. So offentially essentially wayane. Your wish
list is twenty five strong strong.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We'll kind of double it. Don't tell anyone, we'll double it. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Number one cuss cut the cost of farming, and I
do like this one stop and centivizing whole farm conversions
to permit carbon forestry that has been a real issue.
Is that now in the rare vision mirror.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Not quite, So we're still going to ask there is
still all out on the classics and seven land until
we've got got some work to do there. That's now
significant breeding country across the country. So still got some
work to do there. It's still an ask. We still
wanted it in there. Just like you'll see, there's still
some work to do on rolling pines. We've got an
awesome announcement last weekend the weekend before and one hundred
(02:46):
million dollars going into walling pines. Our ask is, hey,
let's make sure we keep there going for ten years
so we can really stop on the foot on them.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah. Other things under the cut the cost of Farming
section has used farm plans to replace resorts consents. Yeah,
we're on track with that one. And introduce no new
Texas for farmers. Number two on your wish list of
five empower community conservation. And I really like this one,
Wayne permanently doubling funding for the Q two National Trust.
(03:16):
To be honest, it needs to be quadrupled.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It really does. I don't know if you listeners know,
but the Q two Trust, the area within the Q
two Trust across the country is the fourth biggest national
park in New Zealand, and that is controlled and looked
after by farmers like that. That is one of the
best conservation stories we've got across the country. It could
be the largest conservation or the largest national park in
(03:41):
the country if it gets the funding to allow it
to do so. And so so we're definitely backing there
and it needs the funding. The funding goes into setting
up the covenants and helping with some of the fencing
and materials and the advice that goes on there. It's
you know, it's great work and it's and it's a
very cheap outcome for the government to get significant conservation result.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It's the best money the government can spend on conservation.
You also want to restore grazing to five hundred hectares
of Department of dockland, which is a great idea. A
Number three enable technology and infrastructure. You want to provide
seed funding for new water storage projects and we just
can't have enough of those.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, I mean, we've had a meter of rain and
Golden Bay in the last month, and I know, come
January Fair brandings here, I'm going to be wishing I
had some of that stored up to be able to
use it, you know. And that's the same story across
the country. I don't think we regret any water scheme
that we put in across this country, and so we
need to start looking how we can do more of
(04:41):
it and what we can do in that space, because
it's you know, we now know how to do it properly,
we know how to do it more and mentally friendly.
Let's just crack on and do it before it gets
too expensive to do anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Number four or five, and we're getting through the list
nicely here, Wayne Length and President of Federated Farmers support
young farmers, and you're really keen to empower rural schools
to teach egg and I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, we've seen we're center it picked up on the
amount of egg missing out of the curriculum in between
years one and ten, and as we know, there's a
very influential time with Lincoln's learning, but also a great
time for them to learn about agriculture and just how
much of a backbone it is to this country. You know,
my boys have just headed off the university and I've
said to them, even if you're not going in a
(05:28):
hands on farming, make sure you always keep an eye
on egg because that is where the backbone, where the
money comes from in this country. And if not hands
on farming, I say, there's always a chance or an
opportunity to make them make them gough by being involved
with farming.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And finally, the fifth on your wish list, and this
will be a harder fix. You want to fix local government.
Good luck with that wye length. And so you want
to establish a single layer of local government. I think
we all agree on that one. You want to separate
the provincial areas from the major cities because they do
have there's a real conflict of interest between rural and
(06:05):
urban and they have their own issues and problems. And
you also want to remove the need for cultural impact assessments,
which are a bit of a roadblock.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They could be ja mean as we were getting at here,
and what we're saying is they just need to be
done better. Broad Brushing cultural impact areas across a whole
and whole province or a whole area is is not
helping with cultural impact statements. If there is a culturally
sensitive area that we need to look after, cool name,
say where it is and let's look after it. But
it's not broad rushing. You know, entire farms and entire
(06:38):
provinces in areas that are going to restrict farming and
ultimately cause every farmer to getting consent to farm on
that area.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Wine Langford, a president of Federated Farmers. Thanks for your time.
How are you spending three or four days at field Days?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I've got three days at field Days and I'm just
changing my flights now to make sure i can watch
the Crusaders beat the Chiefs on Friday night. So I'm
looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Should be staying up there for that game.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I will be staying up there for that game. Don't
tell my wife because she's staying with me, but we
will be staying for that game for sure, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, I don't know about that. I mean, okay, look,
I think the Chiefs are going to take a lot
of beating at home and the Hurricanes are going to
take a lot of beating at home the following week. Anyhow,
That's just how I see it. Wayne Langford, President of
Federated Farmers, keep up the good work. And why wouldn't
you pay your fed farmers sub? Eh?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, another announcement coming today, Jamie. Look out for it
and as you said, it makes you sub all the
more worth it. So thanks Lly, Jammie King.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
We'll wait with baited breath for that announcement. We hear
on the grapevine that it's going to be a really
good one, so I think that might be later today.
Let's introduce onto the country friend of the country, President
of Federated Farmers, Wayne Langford, and the song is that's
what friends are for. I'm starting to feel like I'm
not loved by as much by Federated Farmers as much
as I should be, Jack Tame yesterday here the dup
la c allen At this morning, Wayne Langford, I feel
(00:21):
like a jilted bride at the altar you've done to
me for Jack and Heather good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, Jamie, you could feel like that, or you could
feel like a farmer and actually work on the weekends.
Maybe that would be good. Good to get our election
platform out there, and we are underway for election twenty
twenty six. It's going to be a big couple of
months coming up. Of course, there're still worth some week
to go before they shut down the government in September.
(00:48):
But our platform is online and where we go.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Wayne, I spend a lot of time on the weekends
tilling the soil. That's called golf anyhow. Okay, So twenty
twenty three, you guys at Federated Farmers had twelve key
demands and I think you've managed to get them all
across the line or the government has in the intervening
three years. This year, it's only a five strong election
(01:13):
year wish list. Have you run out of things to
moan about wine?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No, definitely not. You're right. Twelve points to restore a
farmer confidence with our last last platform, and it was
a significant one. There was some big bold issues in there,
you know, replacing their rima and that sort of thing,
and so we were really getting the big samurai saw it.
I guess out to cut through some of that. Now
(01:38):
we're probably coming back in with a scalp, i'd say,
and it's time to start improving those small issues or
they're still big issues for farmers. But how can we
start to get these ten percent wins that are going
to improve productivity across the farming nation.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Okay, let's have a look at these five and we'll
just swept through them quickly because there's sort of subsets
to each of them. I mean, you've got like five
subsets to each subject. So offentially essentially wayane. Your wish
list is twenty five strong strong.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
We'll kind of double it. Don't tell anyone, we'll double it. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Number one cuss cut the cost of farming, and I
do like this one stop and centivizing whole farm conversions
to permit carbon forestry that has been a real issue.
Is that now in the rare vision mirror.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Not quite, So we're still going to ask there is
still all out on the classics and seven land until
we've got got some work to do there. That's now
significant breeding country across the country. So still got some
work to do there. It's still an ask. We still
wanted it in there. Just like you'll see, there's still
some work to do on rolling pines. We've got an
awesome announcement last weekend the weekend before and one hundred
(02:46):
million dollars going into walling pines. Our ask is, hey,
let's make sure we keep there going for ten years
so we can really stop on the foot on them.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah. Other things under the cut the cost of Farming
section has used farm plans to replace resorts consents. Yeah,
we're on track with that one. And introduce no new
Texas for farmers. Number two on your wish list of
five empower community conservation. And I really like this one,
Wayne permanently doubling funding for the Q two National Trust.
(03:16):
To be honest, it needs to be quadrupled.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It really does. I don't know if you listeners know,
but the Q two Trust, the area within the Q
two Trust across the country is the fourth biggest national
park in New Zealand, and that is controlled and looked
after by farmers like that. That is one of the
best conservation stories we've got across the country. It could
be the largest conservation or the largest national park in
(03:41):
the country if it gets the funding to allow it
to do so. And so so we're definitely backing there
and it needs the funding. The funding goes into setting
up the covenants and helping with some of the fencing
and materials and the advice that goes on there. It's
you know, it's great work and it's and it's a
very cheap outcome for the government to get significant conservation result.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It's the best money the government can spend on conservation.
You also want to restore grazing to five hundred hectares
of Department of dockland, which is a great idea. A
Number three enable technology and infrastructure. You want to provide
seed funding for new water storage projects and we just
can't have enough of those.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, I mean, we've had a meter of rain and
Golden Bay in the last month, and I know, come
January Fair brandings here, I'm going to be wishing I
had some of that stored up to be able to
use it, you know. And that's the same story across
the country. I don't think we regret any water scheme
that we put in across this country, and so we
need to start looking how we can do more of
(04:41):
it and what we can do in that space, because
it's you know, we now know how to do it properly,
we know how to do it more and mentally friendly.
Let's just crack on and do it before it gets
too expensive to do anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Number four or five, and we're getting through the list
nicely here, Wayne Length and President of Federated Farmers support
young farmers, and you're really keen to empower rural schools
to teach egg and I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, we've seen we're center it picked up on the
amount of egg missing out of the curriculum in between
years one and ten, and as we know, there's a
very influential time with Lincoln's learning, but also a great
time for them to learn about agriculture and just how
much of a backbone it is to this country. You know,
my boys have just headed off the university and I've
said to them, even if you're not going in a
(05:28):
hands on farming, make sure you always keep an eye
on egg because that is where the backbone, where the
money comes from in this country. And if not hands
on farming, I say, there's always a chance or an
opportunity to make them make them gough by being involved
with farming.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And finally, the fifth on your wish list, and this
will be a harder fix. You want to fix local government.
Good luck with that wye length. And so you want
to establish a single layer of local government. I think
we all agree on that one. You want to separate
the provincial areas from the major cities because they do
have there's a real conflict of interest between rural and
(06:05):
urban and they have their own issues and problems. And
you also want to remove the need for cultural impact assessments,
which are a bit of a roadblock.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They could be ja mean as we were getting at here,
and what we're saying is they just need to be
done better. Broad Brushing cultural impact areas across a whole
and whole province or a whole area is is not
helping with cultural impact statements. If there is a culturally
sensitive area that we need to look after, cool name,
say where it is and let's look after it. But
it's not broad rushing. You know, entire farms and entire
(06:38):
provinces in areas that are going to restrict farming and
ultimately cause every farmer to getting consent to farm on
that area.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Wine Langford, a president of Federated Farmers. Thanks for your time.
How are you spending three or four days at field Days?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I've got three days at field Days and I'm just
changing my flights now to make sure i can watch
the Crusaders beat the Chiefs on Friday night. So I'm
looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Should be staying up there for that game.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I will be staying up there for that game. Don't
tell my wife because she's staying with me, but we
will be staying for that game for sure, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, I don't know about that. I mean, okay, look,
I think the Chiefs are going to take a lot
of beating at home and the Hurricanes are going to
take a lot of beating at home the following week. Anyhow,
That's just how I see it. Wayne Langford, President of
Federated Farmers, keep up the good work. And why wouldn't
you pay your fed farmers sub? Eh?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, another announcement coming today, Jamie. Look out for it
and as you said, it makes you sub all the
more worth it. So thanks Lly, Jammie King.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
We'll wait with baited breath for that announcement. We hear
on the grapevine that it's going to be a really
good one, so I think that might be later today.
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