By Andrew Hoggard, President Federated Farmers of NZ It’s the business end of the season when it comes to emissions pricing discussions, with the Government due to announce a final decision in the next few weeks. This is a big moment for our sector and farmers are understandably wanting to know what Federated Farmers’ position […]
Climate Change Commission
Upton: World won’t give our ag sector a leave pass
It is not a credible negotiating position for New Zealand to say that our largest contribution to warming – methane – is off limits when we have the option to reduce it. That’s according to the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment, Simon Upton. He told the recent Agricultural Climate Change Conference he was aware that […]
Feds says we’ll need more people, more money to take on climate challenges
Federated Farmers believes the final Climate Change Commission report released today will need to be backed up with significant investment in improving access to science and technology on farm, and the people needed to operate it. Back in February Feds was relatively upbeat about the report and the challenges it posed for New Zealanders, and […]
B+LNZ: MfE report on sequestration an important contribution to conversation
Beef + Lamb New Zealand says the Ministry for the Environment’s report Net emissions and removals from vegetation and soils on sheep and beef farmland is valuable because it recognises there is significant sequestration happening on sheep and beef farmland in New Zealand and is part of an ongoing process to build understanding of this […]
Farmers help identify solutions to reduce farm footprint
New DairyNZ research shows farmers can identify ways to increase efficiency and reduce environmental footprint – but there will be challenges for some. The Greenhouse Gas Partnership Farms research project worked with farmers to identify and model how their farms might reduce both nitrogen loss and greenhouse gas emissions. “Making these gains will be the […]
New leader for Climate Change Ambassadors
Award-winning dairy farmer Fraser McGougan has been appointed chair of the DairyNZ Climate Change Ambassadors. Climate Change Ambassadors are leaders for climate change action on dairy farms. They help communicate the challenges and opportunities dairy farmers face in playing their part to address climate change, alongside the rest of New Zealand. “The 13 ambassadors are […]
NZ needs its own Project Warp Speed on climate change
by Peter Griffon, founding Director of the Science Media Centre. This article was first published in BusinessDesk. OPINION: The good news about the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan to meet our Paris Agreement commitments and avoid the worst of climate change is that it doesn’t hinge on technology yet to be developed. The commission has […]
Farmers see pluses and minuses in Climate Change Commission report
By Andrew Hoggard, President Federated Farmers of New Zealand OPINION: The recent Climate Change Commission report had in it some useful recommendations and themes along with other points that are questionable. Pleasingly, the report does not ignore, but also does not fixate, on agricultural emissions. The public discourse In New Zealand for decades has largely […]