If farmers are not at the table for regional water quality discussions, they will be “on the menu” warns Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers provincial president Chris Allen.

And keeping economics at the forefront of all discussions is vital. “There’s no point in having the highest quality water in the world if farmers go bankrupt and the lights are turned out in rural and provincial towns,” he told the annual Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers Conference in Edgecumbe.