Waikato farmers’ modest hopes for Budget 2026

Thursday, 28 May 2026

Federated farmers Waikato president Chris Woolerton says a tight Budget is unlikely to harm the rural sector

From boosting agricultural research to improving 5G coverage, Waikato Federated Farmers have a few items on their government wishlist.

However, president Chris Woolerton said the organisation doesn’t want “a lolly scramble” when Budget 2026 is announced on Thursday afternoon.

This last wish is likely to be granted — Finance Minister Nicola Willis told RNZ on Wednesday it would be “the right Budget for the times”, while Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour called it a “tough love” Budget.

Government ministers (from left) Chris Bishop, David Seymour, Nicola Willis and Shane Jones prepare for the release of Budget 2026

Woolerton, a Taupiri dairy farmer, did not expect any cuts would significantly impact the rural sector, and there were several things that needed more support.

Government backing for research into agricultural science needed a boost, including work related to carbon mitigation and emissions reduction.

“We’re putting a lot of money into it, but we need support from the Government as well,” he said.

Huntly farmer and former Waikato District Council mayor Allan Sanson says the Government needs to rein in spending and farmers are not looking for handouts

Also on the wishlist was more investment in rural infrastructure, such as cellphone towers.

Coverage for 3G services — important for monitoring things such as fuel use and water tanks — had been shut down. He said 5G coverage had not matched previous connectivity in some rural areas, and he wanted better infrastructure support.

“With the 5G that's come in, it doesn't go as far and we've actually lost connectivity in the community, so a bit of money for that would be good.”

The Government had already announced more support to control invasive wilding pine trees, but this was more of a South Island issue, and the North Island had its own pest issues, he said.

More pest control support was needed, with possums, wallabies, deer, and weeds among the worst offenders.

Fuel costs were also on his mind. However, winter was not a high-use period for farmers and, although he wanted prices kept in check, this was probably not a Budget issue, he said.

While the contents of Budget 2026 haven’t yet been revealed, the operating allowance will be $2.1 billion, down from $2.4 billion, while capital expenditure will increase.

In a pre-Budget speech on May 19, Willis said most government agencies’ operating budgets would be cut 2% per cent in the coming year, followed by a further 5% per cent in each of the following two years.

The Government was also going to embrace the “the digitisation and AI revolutions”, and reduce the number of government agencies and entities.

Woolerton predicted wider economic benefits if lower government spending reduced pressure on taxpayers, which was why he did not want “too much money” given out.

It was hard to expect the Government to cut a swath of other sectors and leave farming untouched, but Woolerton said the Government was not cutting at random, but rather “looking for efficiencies”.

“I think we should be all right, but we’re looking for the primary industries. We want to make sure that they’ve got enough money.”

AI had also come up in a recent meeting, he added, but outputs depend on input and it could get things wrong.

Huntly farmer and former Waikato District mayor Allan Sanson was also sanguine about the prospect of a trim Budget.

“I don't think it'll worry the farming sector, and I'll hark back to years in local government — government agencies historically have been bloated with too many people doing nothing and too much money.”

The farming and agribusiness sector was going fairly well due to the money they were getting from beef, lamb, and dairy products.

Farmers did not need a handout, and only wanted a little less regulation, he said.

“I don’t expect anything out of the budget for the rural sector and probably quite rightly so. I don’t think anybody in the rural sector is expecting anything, to be honest, except for some consistency around expenditure.”

He did not envy Willis’ job, he said.

“We're also looking for discipline from the Government in relation to their expenditure…there's lots of people that are actually hurting out there, low-income people, and I have a lot of sympathy for them too.”

However, New Zealand had high debt and had to learn to live within a budget, he said.