Federated Farmers Chief Executive, Conor English, addresses Federated Farmers National Conference

Martin Luther King famously said, “I have a dream. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Ladies and gentlemen, New Zealand needs to keep dreaming. It needs to draw on the content of its character. It needs to build on what it’s best at if we are to progress as a nation through these challenging times.

You see, we are hanging onto the cliff face of first world status by our finger tips. If we are to climb that cliff face as a country, we need to face up to the fact that we need to produce stuff to sell to the word to maintain our standard of living. We need to invest in productive assets, productive people and productive ideas.

When we look at the diamond that is New Zealand, it is agriculture that sparkles brightest.

A key motivator and driver of any society is identity. New Zealand’s identity in my view is hard wired into two key attributes - our Maori and our rural heritage. That’s what makes us different from other countries. It is this reality that connects us with our urban cousins and with the world. If there is a slight disconnect it is in the physical experience and understanding of our city cousins over what happens on our farms in a practical sense.

As each new generation becomes more removed from the custodians of the land and water, we do need to bridge this gap. But in my view we don’t need to be defensive about who we are and what we do. The challenge for us as rural people is to build a bridge towards the cities and build a shared understanding of what this nation needs for everybody to prosper and reach their potential.

This is why we have had this conference here. It’s why we are undertaking the Federated Farmers Farm Day, which I am very happy to say with Sustainable Farming Fund support will be held next year as well. It’s why tonight, we are celebrating agricultural success in New Zealand’s biggest city and inviting some head girls and boys from some local Auckland CBD schools. And, of course, it’s why we launched our manifesto at the Wellington railway station in the lead up to the election.

The story of New Zealand’s economic success is driven off the simple equation that we have abundant water, we harvest that to grow grass, which we harvest to grow protein, which we sell to the rest of the world to pay our bills. It’s no more or less complex than that.

Farmers are like a pair of socks - sometimes you get the odd one. But every farmer knows he or she has a responsibility as custodians of our land and water resource. Every farmer wants to leave the land and water better than they found it.

As an organisation, Federated Farmers is driven by our farmers and our countries need for us to be able to farm for generations. We are driven by our need for viable farm businesses and families and by our need to manage off-farm risks. To do this we need to look over the horizon and adapt and change to whatever challenges or opportunities are coming at us like a train in a tunnel.

Farming is risky. Every farmer in this country, whether he or she likes it or not, has a number of off-farm risks and issues that they can’t manage as individuals. They need to collaborate to ensure that we get sensible outcomes and mitigate and manage those risks at the international, national and regional levels. That’s what Federated Farmers does.

We have the climate and the farmers who can adapt their husbandry to cope where they can. For our part, Federated Farmers helps manage that risk off-farm through our campaign on water storage, our work on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and also by setting up and administering a network of rural support trusts to cope with the practicalities of adverse events.

We have commodity price and currency risk. Generally farmers out source the management of these risks to their meat or dairy company. The Federation, however, provides a watching brief. We question from time to time, the activities of organisations, such as Fonterra and its new auction system. This is probably one of the biggest strategic changes since its inception and farmers take enormous risks if Fonterra has got it wrong. We seek solutions to the malaise in the meat and wool sector and provide a singular focus with our T150 campaign.

We have business risk associated with income and with expense. So we focus on things such as money supply and costs through our campaign on bank interest rates and our dialogue with the Reserve Bank. But we also focus on other input costs.

Importantly, we have regulatory risks, which are magnified in the current MMP environment - one where the demographic trends are against us. So the Federation works in the corridors of power in Wellington and at every local authority across New Zealand. In the last 100 days we have submitted 100 submissions, all to manage farmers’ regulatory risks.

Going forward we will focus on some critical issues relating to our ability to farm for generations. These include:
– Environmental sustainability
– Infrastructure - roads, data (broadband)
– Water - ownership, allocation, quality, storage
– Property rights
– Succession
– Biosecurity
– Skills/education/human capability
– Research
– Urban rural understanding, community perceptions
– Attracting investment/capital

Federated Farmers is taking a leadership role in all of these issues and advocating on farmers behalf, while they work hard to meet the needs of the country and the world on their farms. We need to work on what the solutions are and how we get there.

We ensure the risk to our buildings through insurance companies such as FMG. Farmers need to ensure they pay the appropriate premium to Federated Farmers to manage all those other off-farm risks and issues that impact their viability and ability to farm for generations.

So today, we have had a range of perspectives on a range of issues. How we think dictates how we behave as well as how we are perceived by others and importantly, by ourselves. I would like to thank all our speakers, who by no accident have challenged how we think. I challenge you all to take just one thing from each of them - that’s eleven ideas. Then go and do something different with your operation or your family as a result.

And I would like to thank all our sponsors. They make a difference. I would encourage you to support them, just as they support us.

Recently a nephew who stayed with us for a bit asked me if I had any advice on matrimonial happiness, as he had been exposed to our unique way of operating as a family, so he was inquisitive. So I said, “if you treat your wife like a thoroughbred, you'll never end up with a nag.” He paused and thought a wee bit and then said, “so aunty Jo is a thoroughbred isn’t she?.” The thoughtful nephew was just seeking confirmation. I said, “well, your aunty Jo is the best thoroughbred that Mid Canterbury has produced,” and that seemed to satisfy him.

But the point is there are many challenges out there, but there are many opportunities as well. We need to bring fresh energy, inspirational leadership and a passion for success. We need to be confident and decisive and support innovation. We need to focus on solutions and less on problems. And, of course, we need to celebrate success, as there is plenty to celebrate as you will see this evening. In short we need to be a thoroughbred and not a nag.

John F Kennedy once said, “the problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” As an organisation, we do need to deal with the obvious realities as we navigate towards successful solutions on many issues in the short and medium term. But as JFK says, we also need to dream of things that never were, as we look over the next few decades.

The times are challenging, but as Martin Luther King said, we need to reach into the content of our character and as Jamie Fitzgerald said earlier today, keep rowing. We must not stop dreaming and thinking of how we as the rural sector can keep contributing and making progress for this very successful country.

Finally, before closing and thanking you for your attendance, I would like to finish today by announcing another positive forward looking initiative from Federated Farmers, on top of many over the last year. In conjunction with the University of Sydney and the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, Federated Farmers and Woolworths Australasia is offering a young New Zealander a scholarship to join 19 other Australians on their next business and leadership development opportunity starting in Sydney next month. At a value of $30,000 it is just as the Visa advert says, it is actually priceless.
I would like to announce that the first recipient is Rob Lawson from North Otago. Congratulations Rob.