NZ Confirmed as World's Largest Single-Country Dairy Exporter in 2026 Report
A team effort that is paying dividends for the wider New Zealand economy.
Federated Farmers meat and wool chair, Toby Williams says what the Government has effectively signed up for is a decade more of planting pine trees on productive land because that’s the only way for our country to achieve such a steep reduction.
He says even by 2035, as half of New Zealand’s emissions are from agriculture, a target of 51-55% is still not feasible.
Williams says the only other option is to spend billions of dollars overseas to buy offshore credits, or plant pine trees, destroying our iconic and world-famous landscapes. He notes that last year, the Climate Commission suggested keeping an all-gases target and at least a 50% reduction, which would mean another 850,000 hectares of land converted to forestry.
“To paint a clear picture, that’s an area five times the size of our country’s treasured Molesworth Station. That would be devastating, forever changing the face of New Zealand,” he says.
Williams says there is a very real risk that we could become the great pine plantation of the South Pacific - hardly something to be proud of.
“The Government needs to be setting climate targets that are realistic and achievable,” he says.
There's strong support from the horticulture sector for the Government's plans to overhaul and streamline the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.
With entries now open for the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, organisers have launched a campaign to bust some of the biggest myths they think might be preventing farmers and growers from putting themselves forward.
Changes to an act of parliament seen as critical to speeding up access to overseas products to control pests and invasive species in NZ is unlikely to get passed before the November election.
Recent storm damage to roading infrastructure around New Zealand has prompted a call for the Government to change the settings for funding rural roads - with the aim of providing more money to make them more resilient to adverse events.
Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) spent two days in Wellington last week meeting political parties and key stakeholders to press the case for a National Organic Policy and dedicated investment.
Ravensdown has reported a net profit before tax and rebate of $50.1 million for the year ended 31 May 2026.
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