Editorial: Common sense prevails
OPINION: Finally there's clarity for farmers around freshwater management regulations.
The Government is today introducing the long-awaited Climate Change Bill with agriculture included.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says agriculture is incredibly important to New Zealand, but it also needs to be part of the solution.
“That is why we have listened to the science and also heard the industry and created a specific target for biogenic methane.
“The split gases approach we’ve agreed on is consistent with that commitment.”
The Bill sets a target for 10% reduction in biological methane emissions by 2030, and aims for a provisional reduction ranging from 24% to 47% by 2050.
That provisional range will be subject to review by the independent Climate Change Commission in 2024, to take account of changes in scientific knowledge and other developments.
Ardern says the independent Climate Change Commission, established by the Bill, “will support our emissions reduction targets through advice, guidance, and regular five-yearly “emissions budgets”.
“The Bill also creates a legal obligation on the Government to plan for how it will support New Zealand towns and cities, business, farmers and Iwi to adapt to the increasingly severe storms, floods, fires and droughts we are experiencing as a result of climate change.
“New Zealanders have made it clear they want leadership and consensus on climate change legislation.”
She says “a practical consensus” has been built across the three Government parties that creates a plan for the next 30 years, which provides the certainty industries need to get in front of this challenge.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
The horticulture sector is a big winner from recent free trade deals sealed with the Gulf states, says Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg.
OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.
OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.