Speakers earn praise at leaders' forum

Maromaku farmer Jared Going (right) discusses environmental issues with farmer Richard Fowler, of Te Puke, at the Wellington forum.

Motivational speakers earned high praise from four Northlanders who attended the DairyNZ Environmental Leaders' Forum in Wellington last month.

But the four - Penny Smart, Freya Lynch, Jared Going and Jane Hutchings - were not all so enthusiastic about MPs they met during the three-day training event.

The Northlanders were among 50 farmers from throughout the country assembled for the eighth forum to discuss ideas about dairy industry environmental stewardship with a view to improving dairying sustainability and profits.

Fifty farmers who had attended the previous year's forum returned to discuss their achievements and the newcomers heard from speakers including Fonterra chief technology officer Dr Jeremy Hill, Landcorp chairwoman Traci Houpapa, DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackie and Ballance Agri-Nutrients CEO Mark Wynne.

Advice from these dairying experts married well with inspirational words from explorer Jamie Fitzgerald, psychologist Nigel Latta, lawyer Mai Chen, Radio NZ CEO Paul Thompson, Olympic rower Eric Murray and others.

Fitzgerald - who rowed the Atlantic and was the first Kiwi, with Kevin Biggar, to reach the South Pole unsupported on foot - impressed the Northlanders when he spoke about aiming high and achieving results, as did Ms Chen with her speech on building leadership capability.

"The speakers were really awesome. It was the best conference I've ever attended," said Freya Lynch, who with her husband Daniel is in her seventh season as a 50-50 sharemilker with 400 cows on 118ha at Waipu.

Mrs Lynch met Waikato Labour MP Sue Moroney and came away from the forum convinced 95 per cent of dairy farmers were "doing the right thing" environmentally.

Penny Smart, who with her husband Hal Harding uses a predominantly biological system to milk 800 cows near Dargaville, producing about 345,000kgMS last season, had a "very good meeting" with three NZ First MPs along with other farmers.

"We were keen to engage and so were the MPs. It was worthwhile - there should be more of it," she said.

Jared Going and Jane Hutchings had contrasting views after they met Act leader and Epsom MP David Seymour, who grew up in Whangarei.

Mr Going milks 390 cows on 270ha at Maromaku with his wife Lijana and they also lease a 120ha runoff.

"He listened to what we had to say," Mr Going said.

Mrs Hutchings and her husband Roger milk 680 cows on 270ha at Okaihau with two support blocks totalling 160ha. They won the 2014 Northland Ballance Farm Environment Supreme Award.

She was disappointed with Mr Seymour, saying he "didn't know a lot about farming" and that he and some Green MPs with "no idea of farming's challenges" should have been prepared for the forum.

"It was an amazing event to be invited to attend," Mrs Hutchings said.