Thousands of New Zealand farmers nationwide took to the streets in over 40 cities and towns on tractors and utes to protest new taxes and regulations that the Ardern government implemented. The ‘Howl of a Protest,’ organised by Groundswell NZ—an organisation made up of farmers, growers, contractors and tradespeople—was protesting a raft of new taxes and environmental regulations that they say are punishing the rural sector. The regulations come after a 2019 environmental study, titled “Environment Aotearoa” (pdf), said the country was in a bleak environmental situation with the potential for catastrophic biodiversity loss and massively polluted waterways brought about by risky agricultural and industrial practices. Groundswell co-founder and protest organiser Bryce McKenzie told RNZ on July 16 that farmers accepted they needed to make changes to help the environment, but that the NZ government’s one-size-fits-all approach to regulating the rural sector would not work. “Farmers are not putting their …