Some of the country's leading broadband visionaries and pioneers are assembling at Federated Farmers in Wellington this week to set an agenda for the future.

With New Zealand's farmers in the news regarding environmental transparency, 22 working farms and one historic farm will be opening their gates at the end of the month to show what farmers actually do.

Federated Farmers has welcomed the new rural telecommunications plan announced today but is urging Government to do more.

"This is progress in the right direction, but it's just the first step," says Federated Farmers Chief Executive Conor English.

Blaming sheep farmers for the loss of 43 jobs at AgResearch is akin to blaming investors for the failure of a finance company. Instead, the focus needs to turn to the private sector to unlock new wool fibre uses.

With a mountain of compliance costs about to hit the economy, Federated Farmers believes the Official Cash Rate (OCR) must be left on hold but the Reserve Bank needs to send Government a strong message.

Federated Farmers is welcoming today's opening of the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre in Palmerston North.

The spread of farmer unrest about transmission infrastructure has Federated Farmers national office stressing the importance of annual rentals being added to the compensation mix.

In the lead feature of the latest edition of the National Farming Review, currently being posted to Federation members, Federated Farmers has laid down the gauntlet to anti-1080 groups.

The Prime Minister's 2010 statement to Parliament today shows John Key has been listening to Federated Farmers prescription to grow the economy.

"New Zealand can pass Australia because we have the water and they don't," says Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers.

Prime Minister, the Hon John Key MP`, is due to make a "state of the nation" speech tomorrow setting out what his Government will seek to achieve over the next 12 months.