Methane emission target reset
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
OPINION: Greenpeace's criticism of the appointment of farmers’ champion Andrew Hoggard as Associate Minister of Agriculture and of the Environment is baffling.
They claim that Federated Farmers has long been the attack dog in the dairy industry’s predatory delay of climate action and water protection and blames farmers for badly polluted rivers, dangerous levels of nitrate contamination in rural drinking water and high levels of climate pollution.
Greenpeace conveniently forgets that farmers have planted thousands of kilometres of fencing on their farms and reduced nitrate leaching.
They also conveniently forget that sewage from urban centres have been washing up on our beaches and making them unfit for swimming.
Farmers, along with their milk processors, are already working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions profile. That’s what make them the leaders in the global dairy community when it comes to sustainability.
BNZ says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through an innovative new initiative that helps make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking a little easier.
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Lincoln University Dairy Farm will be tweaking some management practices after an animal welfare complaint laid in mid-August, despite the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation into the complaint finding no cause for action.
A large slice of the $3.2 billion proposed capital return for Fonterra farmer shareholders could end up with the banks.
Opening a new $3 million methane research barn in Waikato this month, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay called on the dairy sector to “go as fast as you can and prove the concepts”.
New Zealand’s trade with the European Union has jumped $2 billion since a free trade deal entered into force in May last year.