increase font size
With the Government wanting to implement huge costs on the livestock farming sector by making New Zealand the only country to include farming in an ETS, this old mutt thought it might actually get serious about funding mitigation research.
However, it seems PR stunts and warm fuzzies are the order of the day, going by its most recent effort.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor gained huge media attention for the Government’s backing of a project that “could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle”.
But this “backing” amounted to a piffling $100,000 granted to the Cawthron Institute to see if a native seaweed might be turned into a greenhouse gas-busting cattle feed supplement.
The joke is that $100,000 is far less than O’Connor and his office staff would spend a year on travel, and apparently AgResearch has already rejected the seaweed option.
A company growing and processing seaweed with known methane-busting properties at a facility in Bluff is expanding internationally but New Zealand cattle farmers won't be getting the product anytime soon.
OPINION: A new study, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to some existing evidence about a simple way to cut emissions dramatically - seaweed.
OPINION: Research across the ditch has found that seaweed doesn’t just make a tasty wrap for sushi rolls.
Federated Farmers have reiterated their support for the coalition Government to abolish the present ban on the live export of animals.
As the coalition Government mulls new regulations to reinstate the export of live animals, debate is heating up between supporters and opponents.
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
Balclutha farmer Renae Martin remembers the moment she fell in love with cows.
Academic freedom is a privilege and it's put at risk when people abuse it.
