increase font size
Andrew Hoggard.
Many people do not grasp that methane is a short-lived gas that recycles, says Feds climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard.
This statement in the PCE report is important, he says: “Given its shorter lifetime, emitting methane will not [cause] the same irreversible inter-generational warming that carbon dioxide or the release of nitrous oxide have.”
“It was good to hear that being mentioned,” says Hoggard.
“I don’t think a lot of people really get that; they just see that all agriculture produces 50% of our gases, not realising that is a static figure and that gas is recycling, it breaks down over 12 years, then it gets used to grow the grass, it produces the next lot of methane which sits in the atmosphere for 12 years and then breaks down. It all just goes round in a circle.
“We have only increased that methane by 5% since 1990, so if we want to get back to 1990 it requires just a 5% reduction by NZ ag and we will be there.
“Carbon dioxide has a 700-year cycle; it is an accumulating gas – it is up there for 700 years.
“So even if you reduce the gases you are still putting more and more up there. That will be there a long, long time.”
Hoggard says he hopes people pay attention to Upton’s talk on the importance of going hard on these long-lived gases. “Particularly in NZ’s case, whereas methane has gone up 5% since 1990, transport has gone up 78%.
“If we are serious about it and it’s not just a case of making big virtue signals, then we have to look at solutions [in respect of] transport needs and energy needs.
“We are already bloody good energy-wise -- 80% renewable. Can we get more there? That will certainly help things out.”
Hoggard says you often hear the Greens go on about how we must get agriculture into the ETS (Emission Trading Scheme).
“If you go back to those numbers, the methane has only increased by 5% of the overall 16% [increase in agricultural emissions] which includes nitrous oxide which is another thing we will have to work on – and that is outside the ETS.
“Transport has gone up 78% and that is inside the ETS. Just having an ETS isn’t a solution.”
Much more work is needed on technological change in transport which will require more renewable energy, he says.
OPINION: Among the many satisfying jobs on the farm is shifting our Angus heifers onto fresh pasture. They love it. Tails up, they gallop around for a minute, then it’s heads down — those long, raspy tongues pulling in mouthfuls of lush green feed.
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your old mate’s attention.
The biggest reform of local government in more than 35 years is underway.
Federated Farmers says almost 2000 farmers have signed a petition launched this month to urge the Government to step in and provide certainty while the badly broken resource consent system is fixed.
Federated Farmers says it is cautiously welcoming signals from the Government that a major shake-up of local government is on its way.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.
OPINION: Dipping global dairy prices have already resulted in Irish farmers facing a price cut from processors.
OPINION: Are the heydays of soaring global demand for butter over?
