Southland farmers are gearing up for a major protest against the Labour Government this Friday.

The 'Howl of Protest' will see farmers drive their tractors, utes and bring their dogs into 47 towns and cities across the country, including Invercargill, Gore and Te Anau.

Organiser Groundswell NZ is calling on anyone who is "fed up with increasing Government interference in your life and business, unworkable regulations and unjustified costs" to join in the noisy protest at noon.

The grassroots farming activist group is making seven requests to Government, including scrapping both the National Policy Statement on Freshwater and the Government’s Clean Car Package rebate scheme, labelled the 'ute tax'. 

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Co-founder Bryce McKenzie, of West Otago, says the so-called ute tax is "the straw that broke the camel's back". 

"It's typical of what we're facing, because we're not given an alternative, or asked if we have any answers, just told what to do and how to do it," McKenzie says. 

"We're just getting one thing shoved down our necks after another.

"We believe farmers' and growers' voices are not heard. We want them to hear what the rural people are saying, which is why we're doing the protest. 

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"We have some wonderful solutions in these areas, but they won't even talk to us."  

Groundswell formed as a result of the freshwater reforms in Southland and Otago and has since expanded nationwide. 

It was recently controversially described by Greens Party co-leader and climate change Minister James Shaw as "a group of pākehā farmers down south", who he claimed were spreading misinformation.

"He got it completely wrong," says McKenzie. 

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"Most people now are very aware of the environment. The farm I'm on, we're the third generation. If we weren't environmentally conscious would we still be able to farm these farms? 

"It's in our interest to look after them because they're intergenerational farms and probably will continue to be if we don't get squeezed out of it."

He's expecting a phenomenal turnout on Friday. 

"We've been telling our story and finding that's the same story as our neighbours and their neighbours. It's ricocheting around because it's all the same story."

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Invercargill MP and National’s Associate Agriculture spokesperson Penny Simmonds says she'll attend the Invercargill protest. 

"Farmers tell me they're sick and tired of the on-going political interference in their businesses," Simmonds says.

"The unnecessary and punitive rules, regulations and taxes are forcing some farmers to the brink, both financially and mentally.

"We all feel it’s time to stand up and make ourselves heard. If you take farming out of the economy then this country will be brought to its knees." 

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Also on Groundswell's agenda are regulations for Significant Natural Areas, the scrapping of The National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, visas for seasonal rural workers, the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme, and the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill.

Groundswell co-founder Laurie Paterson, of Waikaka, told RNZ: "They only seem to have four sports in New Zealand at the moment, that's rugby, cricket, netball and bashing farmers, and farmers and rural people have really just had enough of this.

"We're the ones doing the heavy lifting in the economy, in fact we're just about all the economy at the moment, and we just really want common sense solutions to things."

Federated Farmers President Andrew Hoggard says he's not surprised frustration and anger about the deluge of new regulations and costs from central government is spilling over into protest meetings.

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In his speech to the Federated Farmers National Council in Christchurch last week, Andrew referred to a "winter of discontent" in rural communities.

The new fee on the farm vehicle work-horse to fund electric vehicle grants, when suitable EVs are not yet a realistic option for farmers, "has just highlighted in farmers' minds that the Wellington Beltway thinkers just don’t get regional New Zealand".

Read Groundswell's position statement here.