The Farmers feel sad sad – here’s why it’s so hard to care

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
14
1640
NZ Farmers feel under siege

Triggered Farmers are behaving like triggered white males the first time they go on twitter.

And that’s tough.

Farmers have lived their entire lives in NZ being worshipped and coddled and loved and told they are the soul of NZ. Imagine then going onto twitter and being bombarded by everyone else who thinks you aren’t special.

Farmers are feeling sad…

Southland farmer pens powerful open letter to Jacinda Ardern

“I am a farmer. I am a mother. I am not a monster.

…and on it goes…

MP Barbara Kuriger: ‘If we undermine farming, we undermine our entire economic fabric’

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

Sadly, the outlook for New Zealand’s primary sector is the worst that I’ve seen in my lifetime. I don’t make this strong statement lightly, nor to scaremonger – but rather to reflect the policy settings under a virtue-signalling government which is setting the dairy industry up for failure. As a rural MP, but more importantly as a farmer, I won’t sit back and allow the ladder to be pulled up behind future generations of New Zealanders wanting to pave their way in the farming sector. 

…and on it goes…

The Detail: NZ farmers down in the dumps over environmental issues

Farmers are feeling under siege over environment issues – and it’s dragged their confidence to the lowest point in three years.

Farmers’ outlook for the rural economy for the next year has dropped to a net minus 33 per cent, from minus two per cent three months ago.

“The drop of this magnitude is significant,” says Rabobank agricultural analyst Blake Holgate. “It follows three quarters where confidence was gradually increasing.”

…boo hoo.

A lot of crying over spilt milk.

Let me see if I can get this completely straight.

After a history of land confiscations to provide land for farms, after decades upon decades upon decades of stealing and polluting water and after having 49% of our hydro assets sold off to create a $400million irrigation slush fund to empower intensive dairy, the Farmers are sad that they are now being required to be responsible custodians of the land?

Boo hoo.

Let’s not forget that this Government have spinelessly bent over backwards and allowed mass immigration slave labour to prop up the agricultural industry again…

The Government will increase the cap on seasonal workers allowed into New Zealand

The Government will lift the cap on the number of seasonal support workers allowed into the country in a bid to bring more workers into the regions.

The cap on the number of temporary visas that can be granted to employ foreign seasonal workers will rise by 3150 over two years to 16,000.

Starting next year, the cap will increase by 1550 to 14,400 and approval has also been given for the cap to be raised by a further 1600 places to 16,000 starting in 2020.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said the increased quota would address concerns over a labour shortage in regional New Zealand.

…yay, more slave labour so our exporters can remain ‘competitive’.

And yet Farmers continue to bitch because the rest of us is sick of their power and undeserved economic and political dominance, especially when synthetic meat and milk have made their product a sunset industry.

Look, I grew up on a farm, I am very wedded to my early memories and respect how hard it is, but these Farmers aren’t feeding us, they are feeding the 45million other people overseas and we get the scraps.

I have no problem respecting those who provide the food to feed me, but their interest isn’t in feeding us, it’s feeding their exporters.

Farmers have been conned by National into intensive farming and now have nothing but a bloated debt bubble to show for it.

It’s time Farmers understood they’re treasured self importance is only important to them.

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

14 COMMENTS

  1. Time to consider diversifying again? A property developer? Build houses, a community? Carve out a chunk of land and build houses.

  2. Remember it was Labour that invented Fonterra and embraced mass production of low value milk powder primarily for export.

    Set up so moar production is the only way for farmers to increase the bottom line, the banks farming the farmers and National destroying the last of the environment with our money used for over intensification.

    • That might be so, but I wonder whether they envisaged it becoming a Clayton’s Co-operative when it was demutualised. I seem to remember someone on RNZ N2N predicting what would happen – and her predictions have come to pass

  7. Cheese is $9 per kilo block again. Also the farmers favorite political party has been known to pull up the odd ladder now and again.

  10. If you’re going to describe farmers in that way Martyn be inclusive. Include the wine makers and the wheat growers and the kiwi fruit growers and the fishermen. The only genuine growers in your world would be the market gardeners, and we are building houses on their land. Now take them all away and what is left in this country to maintain it the way you would like Martyn. Sweet fuck all, it’s full of useless fucks who won’t work and pen pushers who have opinions, shuffle bits of paper and produce nothing. Sorry Martyn I believe your article has succeeded in being provocative but in reality is supercilious clap trap.

  11. Martyn can you please stop bashing farmers! How on earth is starting a fight with half of New Zealand going to help us deal with the climate crisis? We’ve haven’t got time for petty scraps and blame-fests – especially when it makes the farming community more resistant to doing what needs to be done.

    Yes, Federated Farmers and the National Party are a problem. Yes many farmers are in denial and yes, many in the farming community are downright belligerent. So what? Are we really going to let our personal feelings of distaste stop us from doing what needs to be done?

    Any sensible government would immediately start subsiding farmers to convert to organic/permaculture approaches to producing food. It would start a massive research program into how we can mass food while also restoring the landbase. It would also do whatever it could in other industries. Starting tomorrow.

    Are we really so angry that we’re going to fight amongst ourselves while the planet burns?

  12. Not sure what you’ve been eating lately but I’m sure the farmers in NZ would gladly stop supplying food for your table. Rude and uneducated.

  13. What a dick, get out there and see what gets done between 3am and 7pm, would gladly send all our product offshore and let the people who appreciate good food, but it for what it’s worth, easy to work 8-4 and let someone else supply you with what you need to survive, cheers

Comments are closed.