Editorial: Time for a reset
OPINION: The Government's recent announcement that methane targets will be reviewed is bringing relief to farmers.
New technologies will help reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. But meanwhile farmers must remain as efficient as possible.
So says Dr Harry Clark, director of the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) and a member of the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC).
He says the new website www.farmingmatters.nz, recently launched by NZAGRC, will equip farmers and rural professionals to assess and manage on farm emissions and adapt to a changing environment.
The website initially focuses on methane, which makes up 70% of NZ’s agricultural emissions. And it will soon cover nitrous oxide and strategies for adapting to climate change.
“Methane belched out by ruminant livestock such as cows and sheep is a problem for NZ,” Clark says.
Researchers in NZ and overseas are investigating technologies that might help to reduce methane emissions by livestock.
Methanogen vaccines and inhibitors are also under development to try to cut methane emissions by 30%.
New formulations and alternative products are being investigated.
But until such technologies are available Clark says farmers can look to cut emissions by small improvements in every aspect of their operation.
Clark says there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead individual farmers can best figure out how they might cut their farms’ emissions without harming profits.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
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