94% of NZ farmers oppose Paris Agreement, survey shows
A survey of 2000 farmers shows 94% of respondents believe that remaining in the Paris Agreement for climate change is not in the country's best interest.
Do you agree with calls for the Government to take action to limit the scale and pace of this transition to forestry?
Last issue we asked Rural News readers whether they supported the Groundswell NZ protests on Friday 16 July.
An overwhelming number of readers - 90.5% - said they supported the protests.
Many repeated a similar sentiment - that the Government was placing "unworkable" regulations on farmers. One respondent said the protest represented "the first time it felt like someone was standing up for us. It showed what unity there is." Others said they protested because they felt farmer organisations are not supporting farmers. Only 9.5% of readers surveyed said they didn't support the protest.
This week's poll follows a recent report, which says 77,780ha of productive beef and sheep farmland has been sold into forestry since 2017, that Beef + Lamb NZ estimates will reduce stock units by up to 700,000.
We ask:
Head to https://bit.ly/2Vw3q4h to have your say.
Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.
Applications are now open for the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards, set to be held at Parliament on 23 July.
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
Forest & Bird's Kiwi Conservation Club is inviting New Zealanders of all ages to embrace the outdoors with its Summer Adventure Challenges.
Grace Su, a recent optometry graduate from the University of Auckland, is moving to Tauranga to start work in a practice where she worked while participating in the university's Rural Health Interprofessional Programme (RHIP).
Two farmers and two farming companies were recently convicted and fined a total of $108,000 for environmental offending.

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