Farmers part of the environmental action

When it comes to water quality and climate change the direction from the Government is very clear – action is needed.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve met with Ministers Parker, Shaw and O’Connor and Beef + Lamb New Zealand staff are working closely with government officials in these areas.

As this Government works to develop policy around water quality and climate change, we as a sector, are very much at the table – along with other agricultural organisations – advocating hard on behalf of sheep and beef farmers – but with the overall objective of achieving results that work for all New Zealanders.

Our farmers do have a good story to tell as we have reduced our emissions by 30 percent since 1990 while maintaining similar levels of production and doubling the value of our exports.

As a sector, we support taking a science-based approach to emissions, where all gases make an equivalent contribution to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius based upon the impact each gas has on warming.

For long-lived fossil-fuel-based gases like carbon dioxide, this means reducing them to net zero so that they are no longer contributing to additional warming.

The science around how much biogenic methane needs to be reduced to not contribute to additional warming is evolving, but current research suggests reductions of 10-22% are required.

It is also vital there is more recognition of the sequestration that is happening on farms around the country. Last year the University of Canterbury released research showing there is 1.4 million hectares of native forest on sheep and beef farms and an additional 180,000ha of plantation pine trees.

We’re doing further work to understand the carbon sequestration taking place through this native forest, but we believe that all of these trees could take New Zealand red meat producers a long way towards being carbon neutral. Now there is a good news story.

What we would like to see is a system that limits global warming but also empowers and supports farmers so they can make the best decisions for their businesses, their communities, and the planet.

By comparison, water quality is something we can all take immediate action on within our farming businesses.

As an industry, we need to own our issues and take action where action is needed. We would like all of our farmers to have a land environment plan as this helps farmers identify and manage the natural resources specific to their farm.

Practices such as winter grazing and hill country cropping can, if not managed correctly, be a source of nutrient and sediment loss.

The financial costs of bestpractice management are not significant. It is simply about planning ahead, identifying critical source areas, and farming within the land’s capabilities.

Typically, what is good for the animal and the environment is also good for the bottom line.

This is going to be a very busy year on the environment policy front. It is crucial that we get things right and I am very focused on that.