Federated Farmers not signing today, but intends to

Federated Farmers not signing an Accord today, which intends to improve the Manawatu River, is not a hold-out but simply reflects the Accord is yet to be ratified by either of the Federation’s two affected provinces or the National Board.

“It has been very constructive working together on reaching agreement for an Accord to improve the Manawatu River,” says Gordon McKellar, Federated Farmers Manawatu/Rangitikei provincial president.

“At a meeting on 14 July, we agreed to take the final document back to our organisation to get farmer buy-in and support. We are treating this seriously and I must point out that we haven’t finished our local discussions while our National Board isn’t meeting until tomorrow.

“I was disappointed Horizons Regional Council elected to publicly release the document on 16 July, two days after we outlined our steps. This came without any prior warning and struck me as them trying to force the pace.

“We must ask if October’s local authority elections are driving the timing on this as only last year Horizons stated ‘it was working on a 50-year timeframe, not a tomorrow timeframe’. I would think after the OnePlan, Horizons would have learnt about acting in haste.

“Federated Farmers takes its signature on things seriously and has to follow its own democratic due process. We want this to be a workable document that achieves more than a few positive headlines.

“Our members, including myself have improved their section of the Manawatu or a tributary by investing a lot of money, time and energy. I’d argue my section is in an ‘improved state’ but we are continually told the whole river is in a poor state.

“To really make progress the Accord should recognise where gains have or are being made to build on those for overall improvement.

“That said, I am confident Federated Farmers will come into the Accord, but only when we have the backing of our members. We’re already working with Accord partners on improving the River and when we’re in a position to sign, I hope they’ll welcome us on board,” Mr McKellar concluded.