May 12, 2026 • 8 mins
Chris Dillons says why he has gone back into a leadership role at Southland Federated Farmers.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome back to the muster, Chris Dyllan, Federated Farmer's President
for South London as of the AGM that was held
a couple of weeks ago, a few changes of Jason
Herrick putting his name forward in the political landscape. Chris,
welcome back to the muster and first to congratulations going
back into the fire.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, thank you, Andy.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
What was the catalyst for it?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's a few things. Yeah, quite a bit happening in
the province still, and we need to remain on top
of a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
When you say a lot of this stuff, I mean
first and forefront to mind, I d say you're talking
counsel amalgamations, which you guys have been on hot under
the collar about.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ah. Yeah, that's definitely definitely part of it. We've been
given a unique opportunity here to shape the future of
local government well right across the country obviously, but definitely
down here. Doesn't work down here, and we've been given
an opportunity to come up with something that's going to
(01:16):
be slightly better.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's going to be slightly better, but is it going
to be the silver bullet the souls things?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm not sure we've got a lot to work through.
You've got gon to this little bit of an open mind.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
A lot of unustry councils already across the country that
are very successful. They put the environmental stuff and the
district council stuff under one roof and you remove a
lot of duputation and you gain from what I can see.
(01:51):
So yeah, on those two things, a lane on more for.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It environment Southland. You guys have had a well documented
issues with the organization over the years, a change of
leadership there, jeremyment fail. Now what changes have you seen
with the relationship?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Not very many changes there at all. Obviously they're probably
have put out with what's been proposed and forward, but
they're probably the catalyst for what's been proposed because they're
just so inofficient and what they do they can't send
to achieve the outcomes of the community wants. And so yeah,
let's look at a better way of doing this.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So your biggest concern with EYES is that it's not
efficient for what they cost.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh definitely, there's way too many stuff in there. And
to get anything done, you get a report on a
report and knowing will make a decision. The case in
point is the gravel built ups under the bridges. The
bridges are community as yet and they're very costly to
replace if you have to replace one. What we saw
in the last few years is an environment counsel says
(03:00):
the bridges and their problem, and so it's district council's problem,
and you get the district council saying we can't do
anything in the river because it's the regional council's problem.
So nothing happens in the whole community gets put at risk.
With both being under one roots, the raiding engineers should
be able to talk to the river's manager and those
problems should be sorted instantly. They've started a project and
(03:25):
they've had themselves on the back for how much money
it's getting thrown that They've got to remember that council
money is right payers money and government assisted money has
also comes from the taxpayers in New Zealand. It's not
government money. And a lot of these issues speaking around
the door could have been faxed a lot earlier before
(03:48):
they got as bad as they did, and for a
lot less a lot less money. So if we can
get some efficiencies in there for the province is a
lot better going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So the three months they've got to get the councils
to get things in line. I mean that's just the
start of the process. So this could take quite a
while when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yes, this will be I doubt anything will be implicated
to the local body elections twenty twenty eight. We've been
given an opportunity here to come up with what would
best suit the province, and southing is a little unique
in the fact that the Poor already has been rolling
on this one. The Local Government Commission has been has
(04:30):
been working on this as well. I'm not sure with
this latest announcement where it leaves their outcome, but we'll
find that out in the next few weeks hopefully. But
I just encourage every want to get to get involved
in the process. A survey from the from the Chamber
(04:51):
of Commerce said that eighty percent of people are not
happy with the current structure, so that let's tell a
lot and other twenty percent probably aren't aware of what's
actually going on.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now. Like I say, you've taken over the role from
Jason here, Rick, are you going to what are you
going to do differently to Jason and the.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Role I was going to continue the good work that
Jason's been doing, probably not going to be so outstanding
in the media. I've got some really good doors that
I can open without running everything through the paper. So yeah,
we'll just keep up the good work, keep the pressure
(05:33):
on and keep trying to get the best results for
this problems that we live in and the reasing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You say that, so you think there's more way of
doing things and just going through the media as such.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The media is one option, but like you've got to,
I always like to go to a problem with the
solution as well, and then there's that stretching it out
on the scenes a lot of a lot of times. Yeah,
there's there's more than one way to just a cat Now.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Of course you're an arable farmer. They're based Lasser and
Northern South and it's been a tight season. We look
at the farming scene on our whole though, and we yes,
we look at the obvious with the situation with Donald
Trump and the hamas straight. But on the local front,
I think people generally don't have to be pretty content
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
For the livestock and dairy shit. Yeah that people are
very very happy. It just doesn't mean you roost on
your laurels when it comes to comes to a few
of the issues going forward. Yeah, the arable scene, the diesel,
and the fertilizer. No one expected either of them to
go as as they did, so it's a challenge going forward.
(06:39):
We were lucky most that the harvest got done before
the fuel went went up. But XG is going to
be a different story.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Because I had Terry Collins on last week from the
AA who was their fuel spokesman. He was saying the
diesel was going to be there, just going to have
to pay for it. But it sounds as availability he
won't be an issue.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, that's that's thing, but it's a good thing. But
it's the fact that this diesel's going to be factored
into the price of what we produce in the current model.
We have no way of passing on these costs. And
there's every ton of grain requires quite a lot of
diesel to produce it, and it requires quite a lot
of dollars and fertilizer, and the fertilizer prices is jumping
(07:21):
considerably at the moment.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I'll throw this one at you, Chris too. Rural connectivity.
You'll know as much as anybody where you're situated and
a bit of discontent with the three G network being disestablished,
especially after the events of last October. I hopeful that
we're going to finally see a bit of a resulte bit
of a change there regarding real connectivity, so we can
actually have standard Internet and sell sell you the connections
(07:44):
around this around the province.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, we're hopeful, hopeful for a better system there. It
has got really bad. I'm traveling to a meeting at
the moment and I've had to stop on the side
of the road because I know I will run out
of service half a kilometer up the road. You get
to know the spots that don't work, and it's very
frustrating on the farm to you to have to do
a lot of your business from a certain pedic where
(08:10):
you can't just keep your job. So it's something that
we're going to keep pushing for good connectivity.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Would you say it's got worse over the past twelve months.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'd say it's definitely got worse. And you used to
just run out of service. Now the calls just drop
out or what don't even come into you. You just get
a notification, which is frustrating.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
He certainly is good on your cris Thanks to your
time as always and congratulations once again.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thank you Andy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Chrystillan better raided farmer's president for Southland. You're listening to
the Master? Up next, Jared Stockman from Dry and Z
Welcome back to the muster, Chris Dyllan, Federated Farmer's President
for South London as of the AGM that was held
a couple of weeks ago, a few changes of Jason
Herrick putting his name forward in the political landscape. Chris,
welcome back to the muster and first to congratulations going
back into the fire.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, thank you, Andy.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
What was the catalyst for it?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's a few things. Yeah, quite a bit happening in
the province still, and we need to remain on top
of a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
When you say a lot of this stuff, I mean
first and forefront to mind, I d say you're talking
counsel amalgamations, which you guys have been on hot under
the collar about.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ah. Yeah, that's definitely definitely part of it. We've been
given a unique opportunity here to shape the future of
local government well right across the country obviously, but definitely
down here. Doesn't work down here, and we've been given
an opportunity to come up with something that's going to
(01:16):
be slightly better.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's going to be slightly better, but is it going
to be the silver bullet the souls things?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm not sure we've got a lot to work through.
You've got gon to this little bit of an open mind.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
There is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
A lot of unustry councils already across the country that
are very successful. They put the environmental stuff and the
district council stuff under one roof and you remove a
lot of duputation and you gain from what I can see.
(01:51):
So yeah, on those two things, a lane on more for.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It environment Southland. You guys have had a well documented
issues with the organization over the years, a change of
leadership there, jeremyment fail. Now what changes have you seen
with the relationship?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Not very many changes there at all. Obviously they're probably
have put out with what's been proposed and forward, but
they're probably the catalyst for what's been proposed because they're
just so inofficient and what they do they can't send
to achieve the outcomes of the community wants. And so yeah,
let's look at a better way of doing this.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So your biggest concern with EYES is that it's not
efficient for what they cost.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh definitely, there's way too many stuff in there. And
to get anything done, you get a report on a
report and knowing will make a decision. The case in
point is the gravel built ups under the bridges. The
bridges are community as yet and they're very costly to
replace if you have to replace one. What we saw
in the last few years is an environment counsel says
(03:00):
the bridges and their problem, and so it's district council's problem,
and you get the district council saying we can't do
anything in the river because it's the regional council's problem.
So nothing happens in the whole community gets put at risk.
With both being under one roots, the raiding engineers should
be able to talk to the river's manager and those
problems should be sorted instantly. They've started a project and
(03:25):
they've had themselves on the back for how much money
it's getting thrown that They've got to remember that council
money is right payers money and government assisted money has
also comes from the taxpayers in New Zealand. It's not
government money. And a lot of these issues speaking around
the door could have been faxed a lot earlier before
(03:48):
they got as bad as they did, and for a
lot less a lot less money. So if we can
get some efficiencies in there for the province is a
lot better going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So the three months they've got to get the councils
to get things in line. I mean that's just the
start of the process. So this could take quite a
while when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yes, this will be I doubt anything will be implicated
to the local body elections twenty twenty eight. We've been
given an opportunity here to come up with what would
best suit the province, and southing is a little unique
in the fact that the Poor already has been rolling
on this one. The Local Government Commission has been has
(04:30):
been working on this as well. I'm not sure with
this latest announcement where it leaves their outcome, but we'll
find that out in the next few weeks hopefully. But
I just encourage every want to get to get involved
in the process. A survey from the from the Chamber
(04:51):
of Commerce said that eighty percent of people are not
happy with the current structure, so that let's tell a
lot and other twenty percent probably aren't aware of what's
actually going on.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now. Like I say, you've taken over the role from
Jason here, Rick, are you going to what are you
going to do differently to Jason and the.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Role I was going to continue the good work that
Jason's been doing, probably not going to be so outstanding
in the media. I've got some really good doors that
I can open without running everything through the paper. So yeah,
we'll just keep up the good work, keep the pressure
(05:33):
on and keep trying to get the best results for
this problems that we live in and the reasing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You say that, so you think there's more way of
doing things and just going through the media as such.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The media is one option, but like you've got to,
I always like to go to a problem with the
solution as well, and then there's that stretching it out
on the scenes a lot of a lot of times. Yeah,
there's there's more than one way to just a cat Now.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Of course you're an arable farmer. They're based Lasser and
Northern South and it's been a tight season. We look
at the farming scene on our whole though, and we yes,
we look at the obvious with the situation with Donald
Trump and the hamas straight. But on the local front,
I think people generally don't have to be pretty content
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
For the livestock and dairy shit. Yeah that people are
very very happy. It just doesn't mean you roost on
your laurels when it comes to comes to a few
of the issues going forward. Yeah, the arable scene, the diesel,
and the fertilizer. No one expected either of them to
go as as they did, so it's a challenge going forward.
(06:39):
We were lucky most that the harvest got done before
the fuel went went up. But XG is going to
be a different story.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Because I had Terry Collins on last week from the
AA who was their fuel spokesman. He was saying the
diesel was going to be there, just going to have
to pay for it. But it sounds as availability he
won't be an issue.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, that's that's thing, but it's a good thing. But
it's the fact that this diesel's going to be factored
into the price of what we produce in the current model.
We have no way of passing on these costs. And
there's every ton of grain requires quite a lot of
diesel to produce it, and it requires quite a lot
of dollars and fertilizer, and the fertilizer prices is jumping
(07:21):
considerably at the moment.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I'll throw this one at you, Chris too. Rural connectivity.
You'll know as much as anybody where you're situated and
a bit of discontent with the three G network being disestablished,
especially after the events of last October. I hopeful that
we're going to finally see a bit of a resulte bit
of a change there regarding real connectivity, so we can
actually have standard Internet and sell sell you the connections
(07:44):
around this around the province.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, we're hopeful, hopeful for a better system there. It
has got really bad. I'm traveling to a meeting at
the moment and I've had to stop on the side
of the road because I know I will run out
of service half a kilometer up the road. You get
to know the spots that don't work, and it's very
frustrating on the farm to you to have to do
a lot of your business from a certain pedic where
(08:10):
you can't just keep your job. So it's something that
we're going to keep pushing for good connectivity.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Would you say it's got worse over the past twelve months.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'd say it's definitely got worse. And you used to
just run out of service. Now the calls just drop
out or what don't even come into you. You just get
a notification, which is frustrating.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
He certainly is good on your cris Thanks to your
time as always and congratulations once again.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thank you Andy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Chrystillan better raided farmer's president for Southland. You're listening to
the Master? Up next, Jared Stockman from Dry and Z
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