Feds thrive on fresh energy

In the year or so since Federated Farmers went through its latest three-year leadership shuffle it has become obvious that the organisation has lifted its game. The president, Southland sheep and beef farmer Don Nicolson, has had the good fortune to arrive at the same time as two new key members of his management team, chief executive Conor English and marketing strategist David Broome reports The Dom Post. Together, this threesome has breathed new life into a farm dog that was beginning to look tuckered out. Comparisons with the previous administration are unfair, however, because of a vital difference - the change in government. Labour began its nine years in office being fairly friendly to farmers. I remember Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton laughing and joking with the Feds' leadership at conferences. But that changed as Labour was forced to forge new alliances to stay in power. Helen Clark saw the political expediency in making the environment a major policy plank and that led to conflict with farmers. For the Feds, Manawatu dairy farmer Charlie Pedersen's shoot from the lip tough talking was just what was needed to convey farmers' feelings. The behind-the-scenes lobbying was for chief executive Annabel Young, a former National MP, although she became embroiled in staffing matters. It wasn't easy to gain traction. Even with the affable Jim Anderton as minister, the Feds were up against a largely unsympathetic bunch. Now, with the change of government comes a change in approach. The Feds are among friends. In Conor English, brother of the finance minister, the Feds have a vigorous lobbyist with impeccable connections. Winning media attention has never been more important and in David Broome they have a canny strategist with an eye for a colourful headline-grabbing turn of phrase. But what has impressed most of all is the obvious sincerity of the man most often in the limelight, Mr Nicolson. Like the other two, he is so keen he can talk the hind legs off a romney, but it is clear he means every word. I'm not casting aspersions on Mr Pedersen's sincerity - he is a man I admire immensely - but he preferred to colour it with rhetoric. It is a change of style that must be refreshing to cynical politicians used to being ear-bashed by professionals with little or no personal stake in an issue. Mr Nicolson speaks from the heart, from experience. Before this turns into a lovefest, let me say that he is not perfect. I believe he and the Feds are wrong in not backing NAIT, the national animal identification and tracing scheme, and they could show more leadership in tackling the two big issues of the day - meat industry restructuring and dairying's poor environmental image.