South Canterbury farmer Colin Hurst has been voted in as Federated Farmers’ new president, replacing Tasman dairy farmer Wayne Langford. Hurst, who for the past three years has served as vice president, is a mixed arable and dairy farmer from the Waimate area. He and his wife Janis, and their family farm 700ha, which includes 450ha in arable crops such as wheat, grass seed, plantain and turnips, and the rest for grazing cattle and 250ha being irrigated. The family has also just bought a dairy
farm nearby. Hurst said his focus would be to ensure farmers’ voices continued to be heard on key points. “Farmers are facing no shortage of challenges, but they’re also full of determination and optimism for the future. “My job as president is to make sure their voices are heard loud and clear wherever decisions are being made – and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Key areas included wanting to reduce the cost of farming, enabling technology like water storage and new active ingredients
for agrichemicals approved by the Environmental Protection Authority, conservation efforts including working with QEII, fixing local government and encouraging the next generation of farmers. Hurst praised his predecessor for his “leadership, energy, and unwavering commitment to farmers”. Outgoing president Langford said he was “extremely proud” of the last three years. “Federated Farmers is all about giving farmers a voice, getting that voice around the table and I feel like farmers have got their voice back in and they’ve got their confidence back and it’s just
so good to see.” He leaves having seen much of the group’s 2023 election roadmap – featuring 12 points to restore farmer confidence – picked up by the current government, with all being achieved or in progress – like reviewing methane emissions targets, changing freshwater management rules and RMA reform. One of his proudest achievements was the new methane targets announced by government earlier this year. “While we’re still doing our work and while we’re still getting our results in that space, it’s taken the
noise and the angst out of it, and that’s been a big win for farmers.” Langford said one of the big issues still pending was the RMA reforms, which he described as “the biggest handbrake on agriculture”. He said it was a special role which he had “had a heck of a lot of fun doing” and expressed his thanks to those he worked with. “When I reflect on my time, it’s filled with a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs, and ultimately, too,
a fair few good wins for farmers.” As for what comes next, he was enjoying looking out over his farm on a beautiful winter morning, the calm before the storm of calving which is just around the corner. “I’ll finish off the winter and calve down some cows and then see where the journey takes me from there.” Gisborne farmer Sandra Faulkner has been voted in as the new vice president. “There’s so much work still to do, particularly in this period of legislative reform,”
she said. “The new RMA and local government legislation will inform how our children will farm, and that can’t be understated.” Meanwhile, Southland’s Chris Dillon joins the board as arable chair, taking over from David Birkett. South Canterbury’s Greg Anderson has been voted in as an at-large board member, and Mark Hooper has held his spot as the other at-large member. Meat and wool chair Richard Dawkins dairy chair Karl Dean have retained their positions.
Federated Farmers, Colin Hurst, Wayne Langford, Sandra Faulkner, RMA reforms, methane emissions targets, freshwater management rules, local government, arable chair, QEII, agrichemicals, Environmental Protection Authority