Opinion article in The Press on Fair for Farmers

Walt Cavendish is a Waikato dairy farmer

OPINION: Along with other farmers from across New Zealand, I’ve written to the Prime Minister about a problem that's been undermining our industry for years. Now it's time the Government took action.

New Zealand farmers operate under some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world - and rightly so. We’ve banned sow stalls. We’re phasing out farrowing crates. Our welfare codes are strict. For many of us on the land, doing right by animals isn’t just a rule — it’s a responsibility. It’s part of who we are.

But while our farmers are expected to meet gold-standard welfare regulations, our border policy tells a very different story.

Take pork, for example. Only New Zealand pork can be sold fresh. But as soon as that pork is processed into bacon, ham, or salami, the floodgates open. We import pork from countries that still use intensive confinement systems like sow stalls — practices that would be illegal here. These imported products don’t meet our welfare standards, but they sit on supermarket shelves right next to our own, often at a cheaper price.

Read more in The Press.