Make Farming Fun Again

Farmers work hard for the chance to make a good living and build something they can pass on to their children. They deserve to enjoy that life without constantly wondering what Wellington will throw at them next.

For years, Labour piled on rules that made farming harder. Unworkable freshwater regulations meant more time on paperwork, while plans to tax agricultural emissions added uncertainty about the future.

In Government, ACT has kept agriculture out of the ETS and cut back unworkable winter grazing rules. Party Vote ACT to lock Labour out and unlock New Zealand’s potential, so the next generation can look forward to a life on the land.

Read ACT's full plan to Make Farming Fun Again here.

ACT will:

Let farmers farm

• Put property rights first in the detailed national rules under the new RMA laws. Set clear, measurable standards focused on actual environmental harm and suited to local conditions.

• Issue initial national standards for farm plans, vegetable growing, on-farm water storage, gravel extraction, drain maintenance, effluent management, fertiliser application, farm quarries, wetland restoration, and small and medium solar projects. Develop the detail with farmers, growers and councils so routine work needs fewer costly one-off consents.

• Set a national methodology for councils to use when setting freshwater limits, giving farmers more certainty while recognising differences between catchments.

• Remove Te Mana o te Wai and other vague spiritual concepts from freshwater regulation, and prevent them returning under another name.

• Protect farmers from a return of Labour-style Significant Natural Areas rules.

• Strengthen property rights through the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.

• Expand voluntary conservation through biodiversity credits and the QEII National Trust.

Back practical environmental work

• Redirect $4.5 million a year from existing MPI spending to rural catchment groups, keeping total funding at $13.5 million a year. Allow further funding where groups can demonstrate strong results in improving water quality.

• Keep freshwater farm plans practical and affordable, focused on genuine environmental risks.

• Continue the fight against wilding pines and allow targeted grazing on suitable DOC land to control invasive plants and reduce fire risk.

• Make permanent forest owners carry their forests’ long-term costs and risks, including sufficient pest control.

• Increase penalties for illegal rubbish dumping.

Back farmers on climate

• Keep agriculture permanently out of the Emissions Trading Scheme and oppose any agricultural emissions tax or pricing scheme.

• Repeal the Zero Carbon Act and scrap the Net Zero target.

• Abolish the Climate Change Commission.

• Recognise the different warming effects of methane and carbon dioxide in climate policy.

• Ensure international climate commitments do not force our farmers to bear costs their overseas competitors avoid. Reconsider participation in the Paris Agreement if New Zealand cannot secure a fair deal.

• Scrap the artificial ETS price floor that props up carbon prices and encourages blanket carbon farming.

Give farmers the tools to grow

• Speed up access to proven agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines by recognising trusted overseas approvals.

• Cut unnecessary restrictions on agricultural drones and remove barriers to new farming technology.

• Keep employment rules that make it easier to hire and give people opportunities. Introduce a Rural Workforce Visa for workers needed by farms and rural businesses.

• Cut red tape around homekill and make it easier for farmers to sell their products directly to consumers.

Back rural communities

• Fund 100,000 additional rural Police patrol hours each year and establish a dedicated rural crime unit.

• Strengthen offences and penalties for livestock theft and poaching.

• Extend Text 111 eligibility to rural areas where unreliable mobile coverage makes voice calls difficult.

• Introduce Three Strikes for Burglary, with a minimum three-year prison sentence without parole on a third conviction.

• Introduce an Open Seat Rule so rural children can use spare seats on existing buses going to nearby schools wherever practical.

• Let pharmacists provide more everyday healthcare and manage more stable long-term conditions, easing pressure on GPs and hospitals.

• Enable 24-hour prescription e-lockers so rural patients can collect medicines outside pharmacy opening hours.

Keep costs down

• Retain the Reserve Bank’s focus on controlling inflation so farmers can plan with greater confidence.

• Balance the Government’s books without new taxes and return to surplus faster. Keep finding savings to pay down debt.

• Cut unnecessary regulation that raises the cost of doing business.

• Respect farmer-owned companies’ right to make commercial decisions without political interference.

In our team's words:

ACT Agriculture Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard says:

“There’s nothing fun about paperwork, especially when it’s pointless, yet farmers have been hit with endless new rules and freshwater regulations, Significant Natural Areas [SNAs], winter grazing, emissions pricing, the ute tax, firearms changes, health and safety paperwork, and resource management red tape. Successive governments piled on the rules, adding costs and uncertainty to running a farm.

“Farmers do not need another politician telling them how to farm. They need a Government that respects property rights, sets clear rules around genuine environmental harm, and otherwise lets them get on with it.”