More than 400 farmers attended one of 30 Director roadshow meetings nationwide between 29 July and 5 September.
B+LNZ Chair Kate Acland thanked all the farmers who made the time to attend a meeting and provide their input.
“I know things are busy on-farm and I really appreciate farmers coming along to talk to us in person. As farmer-elected directors, we enjoy the opportunity to check in.”
B+LNZ staff are working through information gathered at the meetings and will provide a report back to farmers in the coming weeks, although there were some clear themes.
Acland said discussion at the sessions was constructive and there were lots of good suggestions raised.
Feedback on B+LNZ’s refreshed strategy
“We wanted to give farmers some detail about B+LNZ’s refreshed strategy, and to see if they felt we’d gotten the balance right.
“It appears the refreshed strategy was generally well received, and farmers particularly liked the focus on extension and on farm profitability. Some even gave us ideas for how we can implement the strategy,” Acland said.
Testing our thinking on policy
There was also generally good support for the policy positions tested. Attendees were given information about B+LNZ’s:
- approach to National Bottom Lines for suspended fine sediment and E. coli
- positions on regulated freshwater farm plans
- initial climate change positions.
In the discussions on national bottom lines, for example, clear themes such as the importance of catchment-level involvement in setting water quality targets and having quality information to work with, came through.
There was also a lot of helpful feedback on the risk-based approach to freshwater farm planning.
Acland says farmers provided thoughtful reasons for why they agreed or disagreed with positions which helps B+LNZ to further develop our policy positions.
“However this is an ongoing process. There will be plenty of other opportunities for farmers to feed in as we further develop policy positions on these and other topics. We want to ensure the farmer voice is reflected in our advocacy.”
The next opportunity for in-person policy discussions will be at a series of workshops on climate change policy during October (see the e-diary notice for more information).
General feedback
From initial analysis of feedback, farmers strongly agreed the meetings provided enough opportunities for input and were a good use of their time.
“It’s great to hear farmers felt the meetings were worthwhile,” Acland said.
“I encourage farmers to talk to their local farmer director any time they have questions or concerns – contact details are available on our website.”
More information
- A more detailed report on the roadshow will be provided – we’ll let farmers know when this is available.
- Director contact details