John Scrimgeour Federated Farmers BOP president

This last month has been profoundly challenging, with the Rena grounding and the lifting of the Rugby World Cup producing a major trough and peak.

Farmers everywhere winced at the prospect of the harm to our shores arising from the oil spill. The impact on sensitive catchments in the Bay of Plenty has been particularly disturbing knowing, as farmers do, the extent of the work from all sectors of the community to keep them pristine.

The Rugby World Cup has however lifted spirits and it would be a bold columnist that pointed to a downside.

In the aftermath we must look hard though at the true costs and benefits of government and local government's investment in the tournament. Clearly there were economic winners and losers, yet all contributed through taxes and rates. Through this topsy-turvy time, Federated Farmers has continued its essential work on behalf of rural New Zealand. In October, we released our Variable Order Sharemilking Agreement 2012. Federated Farmers has a statutory role on this agreement, which is the product of good faith bargaining between employers and sharemilkers.

This user friendly agreement is an important part of New Zealand's unique system of sharemilking as a path to farm ownership and has been developed and updated by Federated Farmers for many years.

The election took a back seat during the world cup, but is now nearly upon us. Federated Farmers will again be producing a manifesto of sound policies, aimed at less regulation and government spending and the economic growth that arises from that.

We have been concerned at some of the policy put forward by the Labour party in recent weeks. Labour's high country policy, which plans to drop the tenure review process, has many flaws and agriculture policy releases threaten a return to 'nanny state” (has it ever gone away?).

Perhaps most disturbing is their draconian Emissions Trading Scheme which would put New Zealand farmers at a severe disadvantage to international competitors by including animal emissions from 2013.

At local level, councils are in full swing developing their long term plans, which will be released next year with major policy reviews and expenditure and rating forecasts. There is not much sign of a turnaround on the massive rates paid by farmers, in fact there is worrying word of big increases for Whakatane farmers as council looks at big changes to the rating system.

We've won the world cup, but as ever in farming, there is much to do.