Thank goodness for Kiwi farmers

“MPI’s latest Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries (SOPI) is great news for New Zealand’s economy, and the country owes a debt of gratitude to Kiwi farmers for delivering it,” says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron.

“This is what happens when you let farmers farm. When voters booted out the previous Government, their climate agenda was doing its best to punish farmers and eventually push farming production offshore. Now, Food and Fibre exports are forecast to reach a whopping $62 billion in 2026. Results like this make coming to Wellington to give farmers a voice in Parliament worth it.

“When ACT entered government, farmer confidence was at an all-time low, and who could blame them. Inflation was sky high, and they were tied up by green tape from SNAs and over-the-top farm plans and unscientific climate commitments. On top of that, there were freshwater regulations that sucked the joy out of farming and made making investments into future growth a no-go option.

“Now, we're fixing what matters for rural New Zealand. ACT’s approach is simple – back farmers to farm.

“Halving Zero Carbon Act methane targets will be a real relief for rural New Zealand. It comes after years of ACT listening to farmers, standing on principle, and driving the change in Wellington. ACT was the only party to oppose the Zero Carbon Act. We voted against it because the unscientific climate targets were only ever achievable by shutting down farms. Now we’re seeing other parties catch up to our way of thinking and together we can set things right.

“We also secured commitments to keep agriculture out of the ETS, maintain the split-gas approach, axe the ute tax and finally replace the RMA with a system that respects property rights. And we're tackling banking wokery after the rural banking inquiry I initiated.

“We are a trading nation, we pay our bills from our export of goods, of which 83 per cent come from the primary sector. When farmers and growers do well, the rest of the country does well. On the left they will call this trickle-down economics, but if they ever thought about where their lattes and kale came from they'd realise just how connected they are to our world-leading farmers and growers."