Rural Mobile Coverage Worse After 3G Shutdown, Survey Finds
Mobile phone coverage and reliability are deteriorating in rural areas, and farming families are bearing the cost, according to a Federated Farmers survey.
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.
Safer Farms is urging farmers to make sure everyone working on farm has safe, suitable footwear for the job.
The Government is backing work on a community-led water storage scheme that could irrigate up to 11,000 more hectares of the Poverty Bay flats, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.
Agri-tech company Herd-i has become a new all-region sponsor of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA), the largest nationwide celebration of excellence in the dairy sector.
Four candidates have been confirmed for two director positions on Fonterra’s board.
Returning to the family dairy farm after playing 20 years of professional rugby around the world is no easy task.
After delivering another record farmgate milk price to 100 supplying farms, independent milk processor Tatua is entering thee new financial year with a positive outlook.
OPINION: It seems Canterbury processor Synlait is still in the doldrums.
OPINION: Get offside with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters at your own peril.