The Country 10/12/25: Wayne Langford talks to Jamie Mackay

The President of Federated Farmers applauds the RMA reforms, and we count down the Feds’ “12 Pests of Christmas”. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the country. Cold is the theme today
because a keynote interview coming up. I think he's in
christ Church Airport now as Professor Will Happer. Is he
a climate change deny or does she? Does he make
some good points? You'd be the judge after you listen
to him. One man who should know a wee bit

(00:22):
about Professor Will Happer is Wayne Langford, president of Federated Farmers,
who had dinner with them last night. What did you
make of the bloke?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Wayne, Yeah, Jamie, Yeah, good, good, very many. He was
a physicist JESU got into a lot more detail than
the average farmer that I am knows. But but essentially here, No,
he's got a side to think and that's what he's
putting across.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah. Well, is it ground swell at sport him out?
Or is it you blokes that feeds.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Not not us? No, No, it seems to be ground
swell or the Methane science accord or are they the
same thing? I'm not sure, but there's there's something in there.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, a ground swell and Federated Farmers now buddying up
for dinner dates.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
No, definitely not. But when there's a free feed on offer.
You know, I'm always there.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So fair enough. Well, we'll let the people be the judge,
because we will speak to Professor Wilhapper, who seems to
be drawing good crowds around the country. They can be
the judge. I want to talk to you about a
couple of things. Yesterday's RMA reforms that they've got to
be good for farming.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
They have got to be good. If anyone's talking about
not being good and we're talking about forty six percent
less consent in this country, how is that not a
good thing. Of course, it's a work in progress and
it's going to take a fair but done wine the
old thing, but it'll be a good thing over time
as we work into this new situation.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Your mates at Groundswell said the reforms were too timid.
I don't know what pleases them sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yee. I hate to be bryceon Laurry's partners because I'm
trying to buy them a Christmas gift. They're never going
to be heavy.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Well, if we're to believe who was it earlier in
the week, Jane Smith, I mean Bryce and Laurie could
be partner us.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm not going there now.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm not going there either I'm only joking, lads, I'm
only joking. Anyhow, RMA reforms are all good and we
know the example that Federated Farmers have been pushing, and
that's your former executive member David Clark, former president of
Mid Canterbury, who had to go through the ridiculous farce
of trying to get a consent just to farm the

(02:24):
way he was and he found that it was easier
to apply to be a dairy farmer he's an arable farmer,
by the way, than stick with his existing farming practice.
We've just got so out of kilter.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
And that's the point, that's where we've got. It's just
completely out of wack and the needed of reviewing. I've
had a few farmers ring me and say, hey, no, no,
it was all good for us, and a number of
occasions it's all good. But the problem is that for
the majority that's gone way out of whack. And this
is the huge volumes of money. There's huge volums of
money that used to be being in our real community

(02:57):
and used to be used to help fundraise and do
all that sort of thing being put into these contents
which you know, und achieving what they're hoping to serve
and ultimately aren't helping farmers to improve and what they
are doing either.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Hey, just a quick one to finish on because I
know you've got a meeting with Minister a Tama Potarker,
Minister of Conservation at twelve thirty and you've got a scoop.
What sort of feedback are you getting from your big
billboard campaign in central Wellington there just down from the
beehive the Federated Farmer's twelve Pets of Christmas.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, it's something that we've been working on. As
you mentioned, I'm about to catch up with Minister Potakers
and we'll be talking about peasant and the management of
some of the conservation landers. It is. It's a hot
topic that we've got to keep keep working on. We
were hoping to get an announcement before Christmas, but it
looks like it's going to come later and or sorry,
earlier in the new year, and so we'll keep plugging
away on that. But you know, it's certainly an issue

(03:50):
that we've forgotten about and it's one we'll keep working
away with. But hey, getting getting contents rolled over, you
know existing contents roll over two years, are getting other
contents pushed out for another five or six, potentially more
years as a huge one and we should all be
celebrating that for the farming sector and ultimately just just
good practice and a whole as a whole.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Wayne Length and President of Federated Farmers. We're going to
be on to you one more time, hopefully next week
as we wrap the farming here, and I want you
to think seriously and heart about your farming or AG
person of the year.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, sounds good, Okay, then you see it

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Wayne lengthor that doing the good, doing the hard yards
for New Zealand farmers,