'View from the Cowshed 2.0': Politicians debate issues affecting rural NZ

Join The Country's Jamie Mackay, Minister for Agriculture Damien O'Connor, National's Rural Communities Spokeswoman Barbara Kuriger, NZ First's Minister for Regional Economic Development Shane Jones and Act candidate and Agricultural Spokesman Mark Cameron to take in "The View from the Cowshed vol. 2".

With just four sleeps until election day, and following on from the success of "View from the Cowshed, vol. 1", The Country's Jamie Mackay sat down with more key agricultural hitters from four of the five main political parties, to look at where they sit on some of the issues affecting rural New Zealand.

Recently DairyNZ took a snapshot survey of farmers to gauge their views on a range of issues.

The ensuing "View from the Cowshed" report showed 94 per cent of farmers surveyed were proud to be working in the dairy sector at the moment.

With that in mind, we ask if our politicians are proud of the industry too? The answers might surprise you.

DairyNZ has asked for the next Government to set a clear strategy for science funding and investment in research and development (R&D) to help increase profits and reduce environmental footprint. We ask how our parties plan to support this?

We also crystal ball-gaze with our politicians on what they think the primary sector will look like in 2030 – and what's needed to get there.

Mental health has long played a big role on farms around the country, with 62 per cent of farmers sharing that they or someone on their farm has experienced mental health issues over the last year.

Jamie Mackay, (left), BarbaraKuriger, Damien O'Connor, Mark Cameron and Shane Jones. Photo / Supplied

We covered this in our first debate. It's been covered in the TV debates. And still no one has an answer. So, again we ask what our parties would do to help turn that statistic around?

It's fair to say biosecurity is something of a big deal for farmers, especially with M bovis and now Covid-19 proving the critical importance of a properly resourced biosecurity system where everyone plays their part.

Therefore, we ask what our parties would do if elected to Government to ensure gaps in our biosecurity system are filled and everyone steps up to play their part?

And because there's no show without punch, or no farming discussion without water coming up, we ask if the changes to the Government's Essential Fresh Water package go far enough?