Modern advocacy tools to manage global risks

Dr Lisa Harper

Over the last eight months, I've combined working for Federated Farmers with finishing a Nuffield Scholarship. After literally hundreds of meetings in seven countries, one thing is clear. Farmers everywhere grapple with similar problems.

Whether you're in Mexico or Europe, ask farmers what worries them and they mention water management, rural infrastructure or global terms of trade. Conversation also centred on the role of advocacy organisations in maintaining our 'social licence' to farm.

This term describes the public trust that allows any group to operate without excessive regulation. When that breaks down, you get increasing social control, which is costly and drives people to litigation. The United States have some prime examples of this.

One chicken farmer faced fines of US$37,000 ($43,500) a day for not getting a discharge permit to cover rain washing away stray feathers etc from outside their barns. The Farm Bureau (an American version of Federated Farmers) stepped in and this obviously extreme situation ended. In an ideal world, a common understanding between farmers, the wider community and regulators stops it getting that bad.

This is where the idea of maintaining our social licence comes in. As well as getting involved when things go pear-shaped, an increasingly important part of an agricultural advocate's role is to build links with the rest of society. This includes farming's greatest critics.

One of the most successful examples I saw was someone tasked with explaining Australia's live export trade to animal activists. She got past emotion and rhetoric to concentrate on what mattered to both parties -- animal welfare. The following is her recipe for building productive relationships with your critics.

Be principle-driven; know what is important to you and why.

Listen, don't judge.

Ask questions and invite dialogue to identify what they are worried about.

Identify common values to build trust.

Control your emotions, they cannot fight someone who is not retaliating.

Define conversation outcomes. Either progress the discussion or walk away.

This is familiar territory to our policy team. Most of what we do is behind the scenes, providing feedback to regulators and building relationships with stakeholders. It is more effective and less expensive to have a yarn with someone and come to an agreement than it is to end up in court, where the decision is ultimately out of both parties' hands. If people refuse to engage or insist on playing dirty, you just move on.

Having seen how badly regulators can get it wrong overseas, I am grateful for the common sense of most New Zealanders. And I have a new appreciation for the importance of organisations like Federated Farmers in managing one of the biggest risks to farming -- misguided and excessive red tape.