Campaigns

Banks are intruding into agricultural emissions policy, whether we voted for it or not. Pushed by local regulations and foreign groups, banks are starting to demand emissions information from farmers, and we hear they’re denying farmers credit to keep their emissions profile down. Call on Parliament's inquiry to tell the banks to back off.

Groundswell NZ co-founders Bryce and Laurie lead a group of tractors up the country from Invercargill to Auckland for the Drive4Change, raising awareness and mobilising voters for the general election.

Groundswell NZ’s SAY NO campaign continues as we stand against unworkable regulations unfairly impacting farmers & growers, as well as both rural & urban property owners.These SAY NO actions are a short-term necessity until the Government puts in place workable regulations that achieve environmental outcomes, respect people, their private property rights, and privacy.

The Labour Government's emissions tax would have cut food production by up to 20% in some sectors and ripped the heart out of our rural communities, all while barely touching net global emissions. Groundswell NZ led a tractor protest in October 2022 to tell the Government We're Not Going To Take It.

The Government is proposing a new policy to take control of private land away from its owners if the land meets broad criteria concerning native plants and wildlife. The Government must scrap this policy and adopt the Groundswell approach.

The Government is taking the control of water assets away from local, democratically elected councils and handing it over to unaccountable regional bodies. Groundswell NZ is holding the Government and Councils to account, encouraging their supporters to send a message to their councillors in opposition to the changes, and holding a series of community meetings across the lower South Island.

The Government has passed legislation that regulates all water supply schemes, applying many of the rules written for cities to small rural schemes, regardless of whether the users want them. Groundswell NZ developed an online tool enabling rural communities to make a submission to the water regulator against these unworkable regulations.

There is widespread frustration among New Zealand farmers and growers with both the scale and the pace of environmental regulations, many of which are completely unworkable. Groundswell NZ believes that farmers deserve an opportunity to develop grassroots solutions first before top-down policy is enacted. Read more our alternative policy framework and our campaign against HWEN’s proposed farming tax.

In late 2021, the Government consulted on various climate change plans which were set to disproportionately cost agricultural and rural communities. To take a stand against these proposed unworkable regulations, Groundswell NZ developed an online tool for supporters to write a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor.