Fed Farmers want farm plans to replace costly resource consents

Farmers are calling on political parties across the left-right spectrum to commit to scrapping resource consents and replacing them with farm plans.

Federated Farmers has released a new 25-point election policy priority manifesto, "Backing Kiwi Farmers", which it said is for any "party willing to work with us this election”.

The biggest ask was cutting red tape, Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford told Q+A with Jack Tame.

Most farms already produce farm plans – documents that identify health and safety requirements and environmental risks – as a part of their contract with producers like Fonterra or Beef and Lamb New Zealand.

“We don’t want to get to a situation in New Zealand where we’ve got someone coming out to see what we’re going to do, then the farmer doing it, and then someone coming out to check if they’ve done it right. Farmers aren’t five-year-olds.

"We don’t need that type of scrutiny on top of us,” said Langford.

“Let’s just get on and get farming, that’s what farmers are asking for. Having this overarching level of bureaucracy is just crazy.”

Federated Farmers’ 2023 manifesto was called "Restoring Farmer Confidence".

Since the coalition government was formed in 2023, Federated Farmers says all 12 policies they identified have been achieved or are underway, such as keeping agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme and scrapping the so-called "ute tax".

Langford said he never expected the sector to see so much progress in three years.

“We’ve seen farmer confidence go from record lows to record highs.”

He said this year’s areas of priority build on the work done in the previous term, with the goal of doubling farm productivity.

National standards for basics like vegetable growing, effluent management and fertiliser application would cut the amount of time and money farmers spend on filling out forms, Langford said.

Currently, many farming activities are consented by territorial authorities, and standards can differ between regions.

As a trade-off for freeing up on-farm activities, Langford said the penalties for breaching standards should be tougher, in a system resembling Inland Revenue.

“We’re not all audited on our IRD tax returns every year, but when something is found – boy, they come in with a stick and they whack you, don’t they? And that’s what we’re proposing in the agriculture space, as well.”

He said around 95% of farmers are doing the right thing and operating within permitted environmental standards.

“Let’s not spend the money going after them, let’s go after the others.”

Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air