My Account
AGRICULTURAL EMMISSIONS REACTION
For many local farmers, their first port of call when thinking about the proposed agricultural emissions scheme will be their farm consultants or industry body.
AgFirst director Lochie MacGillivray says he welcomes the on-farm decision making component of the scheme.
“It means that those who can mitigate their emissions will be rewarded for that,” he says.
“But farmers are understandably anxious about how it will play out in their communities if farmers retire pasture to forestry. It’s a trend that is already happening, but this scheme will accelerate it.”
MacGillivray believes sheep and beef farmers, particularly in Northland and on the East Coast, will be hardest hit because they don’t have the levers to pull like intensive farmers.
“Their margins are small and they haven’t got the flexibility to decrease costs easily. It effectively hits the bottom line harder.”
He sees many of these farmers exiting the sector altogether.
“It’s not a case of farmers not wanting to pay, it’s a case of their ability to offset the additional costs.”
MacGillivray said there was no recognition of the fact that sheep and beef methane emissions were actually decreasing.
“The increase since the 1990s has predominantly come from the dairy sector.”
He advised farmers to get advice and a proper recognition for the genuine sequestration happening on their farms, such as from riparian planting, which is absorbing carbon.
“We’re in a consultation phase, so it’s not all done and dusted yet.”
HAVE YOUR SAY
The Government is consulting on a proposal to reduce agricultural emissions, which it says will put NZ on track to meet its 2030 methane reduction target.
Currently, nearly half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the digestive systems and fertiliser-rich urine of the country’s livestock.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the proposed farm-level emissions pricing system supports farmers to make decisions about what they do on their farms by incentivising emissions reductions and climate friendly practices. Revenue raised will be recycled back into agriculture sector through new technology, research and incentive payments to farmers.
The Government plans to introduce the scheme in 2025.
Consultation to work through sequestration, the levy setting process and transition assistance closes on November 18. The consultation document can be read here.
Funding support transition
• $380 million to help get new tools, technology and practices to farmers quicker to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions. It includes the establishment of a new Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions to unite efforts to accelerate research and development. A key part of that work is a joint venture with industry – ANZCO Foods, Fonterra, Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Ravensdown, Silver Fern Farms and Synlait – to accelerate the development of tools to help farmers. Initial indicative commitments would see around $172 million invested over the next four years by industry and government to develop and commercialise practical tools and technologies for farmers.
• $55 million to establish and roll out an On Farm Support service. It will help farmers and growers navigate requirements around biosecurity, climate, water and the environment.
• $14.4 million to invest in targeted initiatives that help farmers, growers and whenua Māori to adopt an integrated approach to their farm planning.
• Ministry of Primary Industry investment of more than $34 million in the last three years to support around 200 catchment groups and thousands of farmer to help improve land management practices.
Farm body reactions
Beef+Lamb NZ
“We need to fully analyse these changes carefully, and we will provide more information once we’ve done this, but one area of immediate and significant concern is the proposed changes to sequestration, which we know is of real importance to many sheep and beef farmers. B+LNZ and other partners are not happy with these changes and will push for better outcomes as part of the consultation.
“We are also examining other areas that have been modified and will be working through this process with our He Waka Eke Noa partners and seeking feedback from farmers. These areas include proposed changes to the emissions price setting process and criteria, and the linking of the nitrous oxide price to the Emissions Trading Scheme price.”
Federated Farmers
“The greenhouse gas reduction plan released by the government this morning will rip the guts out of small town New Zealand, putting trees where farms used to be. The plan aims to reduce sheep and beef farming in New Zealand by 20% and dairy farming by 5% to achieve the unscientific pulled-out-of-a-hat national greenhouse gas targets.
“This is the equivalent of the entire wine industry and half of seafood being wiped out. The government’s rehashed plan to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions throws out the two-and-a-half years of work the industry did to come up with a solution, supposedly all that time in a ‘partnership’ with government to achieve a workable solution which would not reduce food production.”
Dairy NZ
“The Government has accepted a lot of what farmers told us was important to them during our sector consultation earlier this year. This includes a farm-level levy and a split-gas approach that prices biogenic methane separately – recognising that its warming impact differs from that of long-lived gases such as carbon dioxide.
“However, DairyNZ strongly disagrees with some of the changes made to limit the recognition and reward farmers will get for their on-farm planting, by removing classes of sequestration like shelterbelts, woodlots and scattered trees.
“DairyNZ is also disappointed the government has removed the ability for farmers to form collectives to work together to report, reduce or offset their emissions – a key mechanism that would drive the change that is needed.”
Rural Women NZ (RWNZ)
“Government support for rural communities is vital to realising the potential in mitigating climate change. The adverse impact of, and the opportunities afforded by, emissions pricing stretch further than the farm gate.
“RWNZ will be providing feedback on the government’s discussion document, focusing on how the government can mitigate adverse impacts on the health and wellbeing of the wider rural community through strengthening and supporting the people and connections within it.
“RWNZ will also be calling for more resources so that all rural communities can find and make the most of the opportunities afforded them through fit-for-purpose solutions to reduce emissions.”
Farmers took to the streets around the country on October 20 in a show of opposition to the Government’s emissions plan. The small Wellsford to Auckland convoy in the “We’re Not Going To Take It” campaign started in Wellsford shortly after 9am.
Wellsford trucks, tractors and utes join national farm convoy
Farmers from in and around Wellsford and Warkworth joined a national rally organised by lobby group Groundswell against the government’s new emissions ‘farming tax’ on Thursday last week.
A convoy of utes, farm cars and a miniature tractor on a trailer was led out of Centennial Park, Wellsford, and down SH1 by two trucks blaring their horns. They were joined at Warkworth by five John Deere tractors, some of which were bearing placards, and another line of
utes and cars.
There was also a small group of anti-government protesters at the Hill Street intersection waving placards, some of which were written on the back of election posters for Anne Perratt, who recently stood unsuccessfully for both Rodney Local Board and Auckland Council.
The convoy made its way south to a rally at Auckland’s Victoria Park, where they joined up with other contingents from south and west of the city.
