Federated Farmers of New Zealand Incorporated is an organisation in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 which lobbies on behalf of its member farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

s.

It has a network of 24 provinces and seven industry groups. Federated Farmers provides a locally based, democratic organisation that lobbies on farming issues both nationally and within each province. Membership to the organisation is voluntary and currently has over 26,000 members.

History

Federated Farmers became the New Zealand Farmers Union in 1902.

Conor English became CEO of the organisation in July 2008

Recent presidents:

• Charlie Pedersen
• Don Nicholson (resigned in June 2011 to stand for the ACT party in the general election)
• Bruce Wills (2011 - present)

2008 general election manifesto

Federated Farmers released a manifesto before the 2008 New Zealand general election

New Zealand general election, 2008

The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

. They state that the three major themes of the manifesto are: farming as an economic backbone for New Zealand, sustainability, and farming for generations.