There is widespread frustration among New Zealand farmers and growers with both the scale and the pace of environmental regulations, many of which are completely unworkable.
Groundswell received lots of feedback from farmers and rural communities, setting out how the emissions pricing options currently proposed under the Labour Government's He Waka Eke Noa will be both unworkable in practice and damaging to our farming sector.
Faced with this, Groundswell NZ developed an alternative to the He Waka Eke Noa options, as part of a new farmer-led approach that integrates all environmental issues under one policy framework. Our proposal has massive benefits for both the environment and farmers, but for it to succeed, it needs the overwhelming support of farmers and growers.
We are calling on our industry representatives to start supporting grassroots farmers’ ideas, rather than continually pushing unworkable government regulations onto us.