A message to farmers who say Maori are shoving our language down their throats

This is a message to all of those farmers in the last week who thought it was okay to run down Maori and our language. I would remind you all we are farmers too. We have farmed this land well before many of your forefathers arrived. Today many Maori farmers provide the very milk you put into your cup of teas, the very powder for the formula you provide to your babies. We grow the fruit and vegetables you use for your dinner plates, the wheat in the weetbix you have for breakfast or the toast that pops from your toaster. We shear your sheep and we drive your products to market for export – we load your products onto the planes, trains, trucks and automobiles that provide you with the very supply chain whereby you earn your money. We work the lines at the abattoirs that keep your, your families and the nations bellies fed. And we maintain the infrastructure that enable you to communicate and drive. We are often the first of the construction teams to mend your roads in floods and open our marae for you to sleep in, be fed in and looked after in emergencies.

And you have the gall to say we are shoving Te Reo Maori down your throats? No we keep you and your farm ticking over. So the next time you want to use these words to have a crack at Maori think about what you are saying.

And for the record the vast number of farmers do not agree with this sort of hoha. Because like I said – we too are farmers.?