New Zealand farmers have avoided regulation for decades. Now their bill has come due | Baz Macdonald

It's true farmers are facing a lot of regulation but only after decades of fighting off smaller reforms - we need them to change

In July, an estimated 60,000, mostly rural New Zealanders took to the streets to protest environmental regulations farmers say are unworkable. Angry and frustrated, they rolled into 57 towns and cities on tractors and trucks to form the country's biggest farmer protest.

I grew up in rural New Zealand, and many of my family work in and around the dairy industry - so I have experienced a lot of this frustration first hand.