Editorial: Sense at last
OPINION: For the first time in many years, a commonsense approach is emerging to balance environmental issues with the need for the nation's primary producers to be able to operate effectively.
Industry body DairyNZ is strongly supporting the Government's move towards comprehensive environment reporting, saying that credible and consistent information is essential for the country.
"We support the Government's move to introduce an Environmental Reporting Bill that mandates the provision of comprehensive environmental information for New Zealanders," says DairyNZ's strategy and investment leader for sustainability, Dr Rick Pridmore.
"This will give us the potential for greater consistency in environmental monitoring across New Zealand. For too long, inconsistency has prevented us from getting a shared understanding on the state of our environment.
"As councils work with communities on setting limits for freshwater quality and quantity around the country to meet the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management, we are going to need credible environmental information. It will be essential for us to understand where we are already doing well, and where we need to focus our efforts.
"Science has significant potential to improve the efficiency of decision-making processes. By starting from a clear, science-based definition of the problem we need to solve, we can all put more energy into working together to develop solutions."
DairyNZ submitted in support of the changes under the 2012 Resource Management Reform Bill that will enable the regulation of environmental reporting.
"We have supported the involvement of the Government Statistician and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in this robust reporting regime. Having this level of independent oversight will strengthen the reliability and accessibility of the data, as well as allaying any fears of political interference," he says.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
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