LOCAL PLANNING FOR THE IYFF-2014 GETS OFF TO A POSITIVE START IN NEW ZEALAND

Representatives from a range of Family Farming and rural organisations met in Wellington.

Representatives from a range of Family Farming and rural organisations met in Wellington on October 2nd to start planning a local programme for the International Year of Family Farming 2014. The workshop was organised by the IYFF-2014 NZ steering group -convened by Brendan Hoare of Organic Systems– and was hosted by Rural Women NZ.

The organisations taking part were Dairy NZ, HortNZ, NZ Rural Women, NZ Farm Forestry, Young Famers of NZ, Beef and Lamb NZ, Federated Farmers, MFAT with apologies from NZ Winegrowers and Federation of Maori Authorities.

"It was a very productive meeting," said IYFF-2014 Steering Group Convenor Brendan Hoare. "All parties are committed both to the Year itself, and to working with each other to put the Year on the map in New Zealand." "Some organisations have already begun developing a programme, and the meeting took the first steps towards developing an integrated calendar of events for the year."

A larger meeting with participants from all the family farm organisations and those who work with them (researchers, government departments, etc.) will be held in Wellington in November to continue developing activities for the year.