Federated Farmers releases election manifesto calling for cuts to farming ‘red tape’ to bring down food prices
Monday, 8 June 2026
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has kicked off Fieldays week with a bid to set the rural political agenda with a five-point agenda for things farmers want from “the next government”.
Fieldays is the country’s largest agricultural event, and runs from Wednesday, June 10 to Saturday, June 13 at the Mystery Creek Events Centre in Hamilton.
A feature of the show last year was Federated Farmers’ Rural Advocacy Hub, in which more than a dozen senior ministers and opposition MPs, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins, came to seek the support of farmers.
The Advocacy Hub will run again this year, and Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford has set out the organisation’s election platform, which it calls Backing Kiwi Farmers.
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“This isn’t just another wish list or a collection of vague ideas. It’s a clear roadmap built by farmers to double farm productivity, cut costs, and improve environmental outcomes,” Langford said.
The manifesto has been written with urban populations in mind, and its first policy objective is framed as setting 10 national standards which it says would cut the cost of food.
The organisation says: “The high cost of living is the biggest issue currently facing Kiwi families, driven largely by rising food prices. It doesn’t have to be this way. We’re a great food-producing nation.”
A poor climate or difficult growing conditions are not the reason for the high cost of food, it says.
“It’s expensive because we tie our food producers up in poor regulation and endless red tape.”
It says unworkable resource management rules make it almost impossible for farmers and growers to change land use or invest in infrastructure like water storage.
“If the next Government really wants to reduce food prices for families, it needs to drastically reduce the need for expensive and uncertain resource consents. The best way to do this is through simple and easy-to-apply national standards that permit everyday farming activities without the need to jump through hoops,” it says.
In order to back the idea, which would effectively negate the need for farmers to seek many of the resource consents they need to pay for, Federated Farmers polled 1000 ordinary New Zealanders.
It reported 45% of those surveyed said keeping food prices affordable should be the government’s number one priority, followed by 16% who said it should be growing exports, 16% who said it should be reducing environmental impacts, and 8% who said it should be reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Other things on the list of demands might be a harder sell for some sections of urban communities as they prioritise private property rights, which some on the environmental left say are inimical to environmental protection.
In the debate last month to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment, Green Party MP Steve Abel said: “You cannot have swimmable rivers by focusing on private property rights. You cannot have drinkable water, and you cannot have a stable climate, by focusing on private property rights.”
These include introducing no new taxes for farmers, restoring grazing to 500,000 hectares of the conservation estate and banning councils from committing to joint decision-making with unelected groups.
This is a reference to what are termed “co-governance” arrangements with local iwi.
“This can mean co-governance of waterways, joint decision-making on notified resource consent applications, and even joint decision-making on RMA planning documents,” Federated Farmers says.
“We’re all for councils and iwi working together constructively and having good relationships, but there need to be clear boundaries and limits,” it says.
The other thing that may be a sticking point for urban taxpayers is a call to make it easier for rural landowners to be paid compensation when their activities are curtailed by council, or national “overlays”, such as designating areas as outstanding natural landscapes and significant natural areas.
Langford said: “We’ve made our asks extremely clear, so politicians have absolutely no doubt what farmers are actually looking for this election.”