Thread:
Yesterday was a lovely day. I am lucky to be a farmer, and was outside working like farmers do, planting, looking after crops, and later in the evening when the wind went down, even getting some spraying done. So it was 10pm by the time I sat down. Like for many farmers.

Checking my email I see I received my Covid19 update from @Timcullinan_IFA, IFA president. And then I get to the bit at the end about the Green Party, and I really am stunned. Is it now @ifamedia policy to target a political party I wondered?

It seems really strange from an organisation that is supposed to represent all farmers, to be attacking a politicial party (especially one not in government for many years), that is supported by quite a few farmers. Because @TimCullinan_IFA, #farmersvotegreentoo.

This is my fourth decade as a member of @ifamedia, and I am also a long-term member of @greenparty. These should not be mutually exclusive, and I know quite a few farmers who are members of both, and even more, that #farmersvotegreentoo.

I find myself wondering why I financially support an organisation that would attack another organisation I support. And to the best of my knowledge this is the first time I have ever encountered this from @ifamedia. So I wonder, is it official policy? #farmersvotegreentoo

There are @greenparty members and supporters I know who have been serving on @ifamedia committees for the betterment of other farmers, sometimes for years. Would @timcullinan_IFA prefer we step down? Would @ifamedia prefer we stepped away? #farmersvotegreentoo

I wonder too about all the decent and hardworking people in the @ifamedia office at Farm Centre. I thought I was working with them for the betterment of farmers. Maybe they would rather not have Green Party members on the committees either, “Ruling the Roost”?

But by this morning I said to myself: “Let it go, you are overreacting”. Until on @rteradio1 I hear @pippahackett on @rtecountrywide, and she, being a member, has also received the same email from @timcullinan_IFA. And she’s a farmer, and also working for farmers.

And she's a Senator, and the @greenparty agriculture spokesperson.

And @pippahackett makes the point that there are efforts being made by some parts of agribusiness (which I take to mean large corporate elements) to create a narrative that @greenparty are anti-farmer, or anti-rural, when nothing could be further from the truth.

And I am really disappointed that @timcullinan_IFA is participating in the “shoot the messenger” tactics, and passing that on to the tens of thousands of farmers who receive his Covid19 updates. Because some of those #farmersvotegreentoo

And also because farmers trust information they get from @ifamedia, and it does not serve farmers interests to shoot the messenger rather than maybe give the point reasonable consideration.

If this is @ifamedia policy, I would like to be told. If not, then what is @timcullinan_IFA doing putting it into a newsletter? #farmersvotegreentoo
Thread Ends. Thanks for reading.