By Annabel McAleer, Senior Communications Advisor, Our Land and Water (this article is from the National Science Challenges website). Buckwheat, soybeans and quinoa trials were undertaken in Canterbury last year, comprising three of the six ‘star’ specialty grains and pulses identified by Our Land and Water research as having high potential for New Zealand farmers. […]
Climate Change
Putting the bite on five myths about meat
If one of your New Year resolutions was to do better for your health and the planet by eating less meat, thumbs up to you. Can’t fault the desire to be a more conscious consumer. But before you entirely swap out beef steaks and rack of lamb for eggplant and lentils, you might check out […]
Planting trees is only a carbon band-aid
By Mike Cranstone, President Whanganui Federated Farmers OPINION: With the frantic pace that this Government wants to transition our country to a Zero Carbon economy, should we step back a moment and make sure that the principles and science are robust? There has been significant research into understanding the role of different greenhouse gases in climate […]
Dairy industry big guns join forces to tackle nitrogen leaching
Fonterra and Nestlé are teaming up with DairyNZ to expand a promising plantain trial to help improve waterways and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Incorporating certain varieties of plantain into a cow’s diet has been shown to reduce the nitrogen concentration in their urine, which can leach through soil into groundwater. To test the […]
Get the research funding right says Environment Commissioner
A report released yesterday by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment supports fears held by Federated Farmers that environmental policy making in New Zealand is based on incomplete and under-funded data collection. PCE Simon Upton is urging the Government to reconsider the way it funds environmental research in New Zealand. “New Zealanders are entitled to […]
Farmers walking the talk on climate change
OPINION: With the government declaring a climate emergency, it’s timely to recap what actions farmers are taking to further reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. I say ‘further reduce’ deliberately. We’re already ahead of many other dairy and meat producing nations on the greenhouse gas front. While the global average for emissions from milk production, processing, and transport […]
Be prepared – tips to get your home fire safe for summer
As summer approaches, Fire and Emergency wants people living with a risk of wildfire to act now and protect their homes from the wildfire hazard. This includes people living in rural communities, on lifestyle blocks and near town boundaries or large areas of scrub and bush. Fire and Emergency Wildfire Specialist Graeme Still says identifying […]
Our Land and Water: Better Together webinar series
Announcing four Our Land and Water webinars, weekly on Mondays at 12 noon from 30 November What will the food and fibre producing landscapes of New Zealand look like in a future where scientists, farmers, growers, iwi and businesses have worked together to respond pragmatically and effectively to environmental degradation? A series of four webinars […]
Carbon footprint cut, one step at a time
Wairarapa sheep farmer Rob Dick (a Federated Farmers member) is on a mission to reduce his property’s environmental footprint as quickly as possible. The actions he’s taking to manage his carbon footprint earned him Greater Wellington’s Synlait Climate Stewardship Award in the 2020 Ballance Farm Environment Awards, run by the NZ Farm Environment Trust. Rob’s understanding of how […]