Wind, war and who pays: MPs scrap at Central Districts Field Days
Friday, 20 March 2026
“We are the Saudi Arabia of wind,” Green MP Steve Abel told the crowd at Central Districts Field Days — a provocation that immediately sharpened the political mood as MPs clashed over energy, costs and the future of rural New Zealand.
The political and financial pulse of the sector took centre stage on Friday in Feilding, where MPs from across the spectrum set out their pitches in an election‑year panel hosted by The Post’s politics, business and economics editor, Luke Malpass.
On the stage were National MP Suze Redmayne, Labour MP and opposition spokesperson for regional development Damian O’Connor, NZ First’s rural communities minister Mark Patterson, Act MP and associate minister of agriculture Andrew Hoggard and Green MP and agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel .
The floor was opened to each politician who pitched to the audience why their party best served the rural community.
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Abel said the country needed increased investment in renewable solar and geothermal energy and needed to get over the idea the country would find some mother lode of gas.
“We are the Saudi Arabia of wind,” he said.
Redmayne said National’s work to manage government finances proved the party backed farmers.
When Malpass pointed out government spending had actually gone up, she changed the topic, talking up KiwiSaver, the change in methane targets and stopping agriculture being in the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Labour’s O’Connor spent his slot talking about what Labour had done in the past, saying the party was prepared to make the hard decisions, wanting to see the electricity sector reformed and a move on nitrates.
“There's a freight train coming at the industry, and unless we work early on those things, somewhere down the track from the marketplace, someone's going to wallop us.”
He said throwing out the carbon tax Labour proposed was “irresponsible”.
NZ First’s Patterson said letting Marsden Point close was a “really, really bad idea“ and his party was looking to take action within the coalition.
The Government had a role to play in funding flood protections through the regional infrastructure fund, he said. “That's the sort of stuff that we're going to be bringing - interventionist and some strategic planning that will add some resilience to rural New Zealand.”
ACT’s Hoggard was on the opposite side of the spectrum, saying the Government should let the market find their way.
It was about getting the settings right so businesses could flourish, he said.
He highlighted the uncertainty around consents that was holding farmers back from spending.
“These obligations, it just muddies the whole water and creates this confusion of having two systems. If the market really wants it, it sends a signal, farmers will respond.”
Central to the debate was the cost of fuel in light of the war on Iran.
Patterson said when the plan came out it was the conversation around the primary sector - the trucks, tractors and fertiliser - that would be the major sticking point.
Redmayne echoed lines from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon earlier this week who said that “hope wasn’t the plan”.
“We are hoping for the best, but also planning for the future.”
Abel stressed the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy.
“It's worth remembering that the reason for this whole chaos that the whole planet's been thrown into is because of the one maniac in the White House.”
O’Connor did not feel there were many smart plans coming from the Government, and said it would fall on independent businesses to deal with the fallout.
He said New Zealanders would have to consider alternatives such as cycling, though he acknowledged the difficulties of that within the rural community.
“We're going to have to think laterally how to overcome some of those challenges.”
The second panel, hosted by The Post senior business reporter, Rob Stock, scrutinised finances in the country’s rural community.
This panel dove into the complexities of preserving wealth, values and business continuity, featuring panellists Mark Tavendale, managing partner of Tavendale and Partners, Adain Gent, head of ASB rural and Hayden Trotter, principal of Allan McNeil.
The complexities of family farm succession were central to the debate - a pressing issue, given half of New Zealand’s farm owners have yet to begin formal succession planning.
Farming enterprises have become larger, farm values are high and there was a desire gap with many young people not entirely keen to follow their families footsteps onto a life on the land.
“A farm is not like a piece of cake, you can’t just cut a slither off and everyone gets some,” said Trotter.
Central Districts Field Days is New Zealand’s largest regional field days event. The event attracts more than 26,000 visitors each year to the heart of the North Island with an economic impact of $55 million.