B+LNZ board fees hike rejected by farmers
Red meat farmers have dealt a major blow to their umbrella farmer body, Beef + Lamb New Zealand - rejecting an increase in directors’ fees.
OPINION: Now that submissions have formally closed on the Climate Change Commission's (CCC) draft recommendations, released in February, on reducing NZ's emissions profile, will it actually listen and act on the advice it has received?
It is not hard to get cynical about so-called 'consultation'. With this Government - more often than not - it is merely a box-ticking exercise, with little or no real changes made to its overall political objective.
One only has to look at its freshwater legislation and the negligible changes it made to this following 'industry consultation', for the country's farmers to be rightfully nervouse about what regulations will be imposed upon them in the emissions reductions space.
The CCC's draft advice recommended - among a plethora of changes across the economy - the Government should adopt measures that would hugely reduce livestock number on farms and see more good farmland planted in trees.
A number of primary sector bodies made submissions, including Beef + Lamb NZ (BLNZ), DairyNZ, HortNZ and Irrigation NZ to name a few. All had a common theme: they are supportive of the CCC's desire to reduce NZ's emissions and say they are keen to play their part. However, they also point out that crucial changes must be made to the draft recommendations if the country's all-important agri-sector is to survive and thrive into the future.
Both BLNZ and DairyNZ have rightly questioned the CCC's draft carbon budgets for methane reductions. The farming bodies explain that these will go further than is required in the Zero Carbon Act, effectively increasing the scale of the farm sector's challenge without the "robust science, economic or farm system justification".
Farming organisations have also expressed major concerns about the lackof analysis of the socio-economic and distributional impacts of the CCC's proposals - especially the impacts of land-use changes on rural communities. They also point out that "ensuring food production is not threatened" was a key consideration of the Paris Agreement.
The sector has endorsed the CCC's call for the Government to develop and invest in a "long-term, sustained research and development plan to reduce agricultural emissions and mitigate impacts on-farm".
Overall, the agri-sector has raised pertinent and practical points in its submissions. Now it is time for both the CCC and Government to take on board this advice for the benefit of the sector, the country and the planet.
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.
OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…
OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…