'View from the Cowshed' debate sees politicians tackle rural issues

Join The Country's Jamie Mackay, Minister for Agriculture Damien O'Connor, Opposition Spokesman for Agriculture David Bennett, Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw and NZ First's Mark Patterson to take in "the view from the cowshed."

With the new election date of October 17 fast approaching, The Country's Jamie Mackay sat down with the Agricultural spokesmen from the four main political parties to look at where they sit on some of the key issues affecting rural New Zealand.

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

The ensuing The View from the Cowshed report made for grim reading in places.

When asked about the expected outlook for their community over the next three years, 64 per cent of farmers said they expected things to decline.

Only six per cent said they expected things to get better.

With that in mind, the gloves come off, as Jamie Mackay gets to the bottom of whether our politicians agree we have a farmer confidence issue in New Zealand, and what might be driving that.

Jamie Mackay (left), Mark Patterson, Damien O'Connor, David Bennet and James Shaw. Photo / Supplied

We also delve into what kind of commitments we can expect to see around the issues of rural connectivity and water storage.

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.

We ask what our parties would do to help turn that statistic around?

And to round things off, the zero-carbon act and nutrient limits are all on the table.

Although things get a bit heated from time to time, the debate can be best summed up by Mackay, who - as always - gets the last word.

"We can agree to disagree on some things but I'm sure we all agree this has been a worthwhile debate."