Farmers may be heading closer to Labour

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Farmers vote National, right?

Once upon a time, and the wind still blows in that direction, but word is that Labour has done pretty well and National shouldn't take a rural harvest for granted.

Meat & Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Petersen says National Party policies have historically been more attractive to the farming community.

"If you look at the maps from the last election then quite clearly the rural people did vote for National last time round," Petersen says. "But things like abolishing Fast Forward [fund] and abolishing the R&D tax credits don't help National's cause so they shouldn't take it for granted."

National says it will scrap Labour's $700 million Fast Forward Fund aimed at food and pastoral research and development, replacing it with an extra $70 million a year in research funding.

Meanwhile, Labour had looked after the sector pretty well and Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton has been an outstanding Agriculture Minister, Petersen says.

"But there are big clouds on the horizon," he adds. "This emissions trading scheme, I'm just hearing comments daily from farmers about the frustrations they're feeling with that."

Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson says under MMP farmers vote for a wide range of parties, though the dominant vote was historically National.

"But I know that it is not like it was, say, in my younger days where everyone in rural New Zealand probably seemed to vote for National, the blue way," Nicolson says.

Anderton is number three in the Cabinet and it has been a long time between drinks for that kind of recognition for agriculture, he says.

Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Peter Beaven asked all the major parties several questions on subjects including the Recognised Seasonal Employer policy, Fast Forward fund, help for horticulture and the emissions trading scheme. At the time of writing Beaven was disappointed to have had a reply only from the Green Party.

"Can I assume from this that the political parties don't regard our industry as worthy of targeting?" he asks.

The pipfruit industry could not have too many complaints about life under Labour, he says, with deregulation, World Trade Organisation action against Australia and help on market access issues.

National's agriculture policy will press a lot of rural buttons: reform of the Resource Management Act; protection of property rights; and an emissions trading scheme that includes agriculture, but not one that compromises competitiveness.

Under Labour's emissions trading scheme the farm sector is included from 2013, albeit with a free allocation equivalent to 90 per cent of emissions in 2005, reducing to zero between 2018 and 2030.

Labour says the phase-out will be done only after a review and that farmers will not be penalised if the tools to reduce emissions from livestock do not exist.

So there is plenty for rural voters to consider: track record, tradition, policy and personality. Come election day, rural voters could well lean towards National - just don't take them for granted.