Jason Herrick: Southland Federated Farmers president on Greenpeace defacing Gore's brown trout amid drinking water crisis

A battle's flared between Federated Farmers and Greenpeace.

Federated Farmers says the activist group should be stripped of its charitable status for defacing Gore's iconic brown trout statue to highlight how dairy pollution's affected the town's water.

A three-day do-not-drink notice was issued Friday, because of elevated nitrate levels.

Southland Federated Farmers president, Jason Herrick, says Greenpeace should behave better.

"What they were doing had the potential to destroy a pretty important monument in Gore."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the fight between Federated Farmers and Green Piece has
stepped up a notch. Fed Farmers is calling for green
Peace to be stripped of its charitable status immediately because
last night in Gore someone in green Peace put crosses
over the eyes of the trout and then put up
a sign underneath the Gore town sign that said where
dirty dairy wrecked the water. Jason Herrick is the Southland
president of Federated Farmers and with us. Hello Jason, Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Heather, nice to be here. Thanks for providing me.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's not that bad in terms of a protest, though,
is it.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh? Hey, look, I mean it's spreading misinformation for a start,
from a charitable organization, you kind of expect a bit
better because there is no direct link to dairy farmers
for the night rate levels and Gore. And to be honest,
I'd like to see green Pieces proof.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Where does it come from?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
On there? Where does it come from? Nobody knows in
the point of source. I'm not a scientist, I'm not
a specialist in that field. But for what the regional
or have told us, they don't know where the point
of source is coming from, and they're working hard to
try and locate it.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
But have they said, have they said categorically it's not
dairy farming.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Oh, absolutely they have that. The said they don't know
where it's come from. They can't point the sauce, so
therefore they can't lay blame on anybody.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Okay in terms of I mean in terms of protesting,
though we have seen far worse, haven't we. Like I
actually want to give some credit degree in peace here
that what they did was easily removable, don't you think
because the other lot, the handglu is they just spray
paint everything and you have to wash it off.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I agreed. But on the on the other sense, it's
it's good that it come off without any destruction of
private property. Like seriously, they were using cherry pickers and
so forth in the in the dark of the night,
you know, not during daylight. And to be honest, they
had a lot of house and safety implications. But what
they what they were doing, what they were doing, oh

(01:57):
yes and no. But at the end of the day,
what they were doing ahead the potential to destroy, you know,
a pretty important monument and a gore. You know, it's
an identification and to go.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
But the thing is, you guys have history with them
at they're just getting on your tips anyway, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Like, seriously, anybody who's a charitable organization should be behaving
a damn sight better than Greenpeace are, to be honest,
And and you know taxpayers are actually funding that because
they do claim back on a lot of that, so
on all funds given to them, if you know what
I mean. So they need to behave better than what
they are.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, fair enough, Jason, listen, I appreciate your time. Enjoy yourself.
As Jason Herrick's Southland President of Federated Farmers.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
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Speaker 1 (02:43):
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