Napier farmer elected to Federated Farmers

Livestock farming desperately needs to change to survive, says the new chairman of Federated Farmers meat and fibre section, Hawke's Bay sheep and beef farmer Bruce Wills.

"It needs new people, it needs new thinking, and it needs these things now," Mr Wills, 47, said today after being elected at the group's annual meeting in Christchurch today.

"It is time this industry body began to punch above its weight again," he said in a statement. He would make sure meat and wool farmers had a strong and influential voice.

Mr Wills is also vice-president of Hawke's Bay's Federated Farmers, and farms 10,000 stock-units on hill country north of Napier.