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Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says it will be good bye to all small businesses, schools, pubs and rugby clubs that are supported by the agriculture around them.
What happened to the historic partnership between industry and government? That's the question asked by Feds president Andrew Hoggard.
"Our plan was to keep farmers farming. Now they'll be selling up so fast you won't even hear the dogs barking on the back of the ute as they drive off.
"The Government's plan means the small towns, like Wairoa, Pahiatua, Taumaranui - pretty much the whole of the East Coast and central North Island and a good chunk of the top of the South - will be surrounded by pine trees quicker than you say 'ETS application'," he says.
Hoggard believes that it will be goodbye to all the small town cafes, car yards, schools, pubs, rugby clubs, hairdressers, and supermarkets that are supported by the agriculture around them.
The ACT Party says the rest of the world will be thanking Jacinda Ardern for destroying NZ's farming industry.
The party's primary industries spokeperson Mark Cameron says farmers are the victims of the Government's obsession with overseas plaudits.
"The Prime Minister wants to go on the world stage and say that NZ is the first country to price agricultural emissions. She won't admit that her government's proposal only leads to more emissions," he says.
Cameron says, under the proposals, most sheep and beef farmers would be better off cashing up by selling their land for permanent carbon storage. Many meat processors will shut down, collapsing many small regional towns.
National's agriculture spokesperson Barbara Kuriger says the announcement threatens the sector consensus by failing to recognise NZ farmers are already the most carbon efficient in the world.
She says the plan could have significant implications for our rural towns and communities. But National has a problem and Dairy News understands that many rural-based MPs want Natinal to take a stronger stance against the Government's latest proposal.
With ACT coming out so strongly, it's felt they could take traditional rural votes away from National.
A rare weather double-whammy has seen many South Island farmers having to deal with unseasonal snow while still cut off from power supplies after an unprecedented windstorm.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Westpac NZ has announced new initiatives that aim to give customers more options to do their banking in person.
New Zealand red meat exports experienced a 29% increase year-on-year in September, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
The head of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) biosecurity operation, Stuart Anderson, has defended the cost and the need for a Plant Healht and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) being built in Auckland.
BNZ says its new initiative, helping make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking a little easier, is being well received by customers and rural professionals.
The head of Fonterra's R&D facility in Palmerston North is set to literally cross the road and become the new vice chancellor at Massey University.
Allan Freeth, chief executive of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has announced he is resigning.
