In his address to the rural lobby organisation’s national conference in Wellington this week, Dr Rolleston said farming had been under attack recently.
But his involvement with the World Farmers Organisation had shown him that anti-farming campaigns were an issue for farmers in many parts of the world.
The term "dirty dairying" was an "invention" of Fish and Game and he believed the government should seriously look at splitting the Fish and Game licence fee into two parts, making the part related to advocacy optional.
It was Greenpeace which had brought the international campaign against farming to New Zealand shores and its anti-dairy fundraising advertising campaign was "sensationalist".
Dr Rolleston believed a windshift was happening and he was getting constant feedback to that effect.
Programmes like the recent controversial Sunday feature on dairying activated farmers and that was a good thing.
"We are also hearing others from outside farming, including those highly respected in society, repeat our messages. This does not mean we can relax but we do have an opportunity to do the right thing," he said.
On the ground, farmers were "doing the right thing". Dairy farmers had spent more than $1billion fencing rivers, riparian planting and improving effluent management.
Dryland farmers had been the main contributors to the establishment of QEII convenants protecting private land for conservation levy bodies spent millions of dollars on research, much of it now focused on water issues. Catchment by catchment, farmers and other locals were working together to come up with solutions which were sensible, practical and affordable, Dr Rolleston said.
"It is at the catchment level that progress is really happening and it is at catchment level that farmers have strength, feet on the ground and skin in the game.
"NGOs [non-governmental organisations] cannot or choose not to compete at catchment level and that is to the detriment of real progress.
"Instead they are reverting to their old tricks of dragging farmers and councils to court over technicalities ... stalling real action on the ground.
"The NGOs may be right in law but we are beginning to ask, is the law itself right? Is the law right when councils become hamstrung, frustrated and terrified of making a legal mistake because it will be pounced on?"
There were challenges ahead and the work was never done. Federated Farmers funding model needed serious attention and support, not competition, from levy-paying bodies was needed, recognising "we all have a part to play in getting farmers where they need to go".
Farmers needed to continue to drive down their environmental footprint to face the challenge of synthetic foods and explore what opportunity that new industry would bring.
"We need to continue to push for a better scientific capability and for all the tools of modern science to be available to us or we will be left behind."
Dr Rolleston, a South Canterbury farmer and biotechnologist, brought a science perspective to the role.
He operates a family-owned manufacturing business supplying biologicals to pharmaceutical, diagnostic and research industries around the world. He was the founding chairman of New Zealand’s Biotechnology Industry Organisation (now NZBio) and the Life Sciences Network — a science and industry umbrella organisation which advocates for science-based regulation of genetic modification.
● West Coast dairy farmer Katie Milne was elected new Federated Farmers national president, the first woman in the role in the organisation’s 118-year history.
She was 2016 Dairy Woman of the Year and is a director of Westland Milk Products.
Manawatu dairy farmer Andrew Hoggard was elected national vice-president. South Canterbury farmer Miles Anderson takes over as national meat and fibre chairman.
Waikato farmer Chris Lewis takes over as national dairy industry chairman, succeeding Mr Hoggard.