BakerAg director Chris Garland says morale is as low as he has ever known it and he is seeing experienced, stoic farmers burst into tears, worn down by constant public attacks on the industry while trying to comprehend the impact of new rules.
He is worried about the mental wellbeing of farmers, a view shared by the heads of several rural support trusts.
Rural Support’s national chairman Neil Bateup says demand for help in his region of Waikato has increased.
“There is more stress on people at the moment and the way I look at it they can deal with one or two things but there has been a continual increase in the number of things people are dealing with.”
New rules on greenhouse gas emissions and water along with public scrutiny on winter grazing, animal welfare and water quality come as farmers battle a falling Fonterra share price, Mycoplasma bovis and tighter banking conditions.
Farmers feel rejected by society, Garland says.
“We have got this deluge of legislation controlling everything and everybody in business and the unrealistic expectation of the terms in which to fix it and running over top of that are people saying they don’t like you.
“It is a feeling of rejection or being characterised as environmental vandals.”
He outlined his concerns in an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Environment Minister David Parker and Health Minister David Clark.
He wants the Government to improve its message that farmers have an environmental conscience, work with them on solutions and acknowledge their economic contribution.
He is arranging a meeting with O’Connor and some grassroots farmers to highlight their concerns and hopes to also meet Ardern.
Bateup says an inability to determine what the legislative changes mean for farms and families adds to the anxiety.
He urges farmers to look after themselves and their neighbours, talk to others and spend time off the farm.
Trusts in Otago and Southland have also noticed increased farmer stress while Canterbury farmer advocate Angela Cushnie said the water plan ignores rural wellbeing and social sustainability.
“We see a whole lot of stress, anxiety and uncertainty.”
She questioned whether the Government takes mental health seriously.
“The enormous turnout at the meeting in Ashburton is all the evidence I need that while the Government claims to be taking mental health seriously the bully tactics seen by Minister Parker over recent times is a direct contradiction of this.”
Criticism of the six-week deadline for public submissions was rejected by O’Connor, who says those who want to make a submission will do so.
Federated Farmers water spokesman Chris Allen said Local Government NZ modelling shows the Government under-estimates the plan’s impact.
It found drystock farming in the Waikato River catchment will fall from 43% of land use to 14%, with forestry increasing from 20% to more than 50%.
“What about the people working on farms, in meat and milk processing plants and in the small and large business servicing the livestock sector when milk volumes fall by over 10%?” Allen asked.
AgFirst director and farm adviser James Allen said another cause for farmer stress is banks demanding faster mortgage repayments.
“The goal posts have shifted somewhat on lending and expectations for repayments have grown.”
Mission impossible
Rules to improve freshwater quality will make it impossible to winter cattle in Southland and south Otago under current methods, Otago Federated Farmers president Simon Davies says.
He farms 600ha effective at Toko Mouth on the Otago coast and says the proposed rules in the Government’s Action on Healthy Waterways make wintering adult cattle on crop impossible on many southern farms.
They limit the area of crops, the slope that can be cropped, the depth of pugging and distance from waterways.
He winters only yearlings on crop and spreads his 80 breeding cows at four a paddock in winter.
“I can’t see how any farmer can winter any cattle over the age of 15 months outside and meet those requirements.
“Dairy Cows? You can forget it unless you put them in a shed.
“You have got dairy farmers facing nitrogen issues they can’t resolve, and they can’t winter their cows, so what are they going to do? Get Air NZ coming along and plant trees? Is that really what the country wants?”
“To meet the goal of a 30% reduction in methane, which is the midpoint of the Government’s target, as it stands today my only choice is to cut stock numbers by a third.”
