A key message that came through at Mystery Creek was that the Government values farmers highly and wants to see rural confidence restored
A members bill that would amend KiwiSaver rules to make things easier for young farmers and farm staff is a good first step but doesn’t get a pass mark from Federated Farmers.
In the lead-up to the 2023 election, Federated Farmers called on the Government to allow young farmers to withdraw their KiwiSaver funds to buy a first home, farm, herd or flock.
Rangitīkei MP Suze Redmayne’s KiwiSaver (First Home for Farm Land and Service Tenants) Amendment Bill would allow someone to withdraw their KiwiSaver funds to buy a first farm – but not their first herd or flock.
It would also open the door for those living in service tenancies, such as farm staff, to use their KiwiSaver to buy their first home without having to live in it straight away.
“This bill will go a long way in supporting young people in our rural communities to get on the property ladder and build some equity,” Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre says.
“That can only be a good thing for the next generation of farmers who are really struggling with high interest rates and a lack of support from their banks.
“What’s incredibly disappointing is that this bill won’t allow people to withdraw their KiwiSaver funds to buy their first herd or flock,” McIntyre says.
“From my perspective that’s absolutely critical for famers who are just starting out – particularly sharemilkers – to build equity as they progress through the sector.
“We’ve got young farmers scrimping and saving to get the cash together to buy their first herd, and sometimes they’ve got tens of thousands of dollars in their KiwiSaver they can’t touch.
“At the same time, we’ve got plenty of people at the other end of their career looking to sell their farm or get a sharemilker on, but can’t find anyone with enough capital.”
Allowing more flexibility to buy a first herd or flock would help address both these significant issues and support the next generation of Kiwi farmers.
“It would put young farmers in a much stronger financial position with their initial equity, but they’d also have less debt – which means they’d be paying less interest too.”
Federated Farmers will be pushing hard for all political parties to support this bill and for amendments to allow the purchase of a herd or flock.
