Methane campaign is 100% politics
OPINION: We are endlessly told that livestock are responsible for half of New Zealand's total emissions.
The Government will not stifle the growth of the dairy industry to limit its impact on the environment, says Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
He says stopping the industry growing would be the easy solution but the Government is not keen on going down that path.
"As the political wind changes, you might end up with easy solutions," he told DairyNZ's Farmers Forum in Hamilton.
"We are picking the hard road."
Overall there will be environmental constraints and in some places they will bite but not everywhere.
English believes that there are significant enough changes in farming practices allowing farmers to be profitable and more productive with lower nitrates.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand says it is seeing strong farmer interest in its newly launched nProve Beef genetics tool, with early feedback and usage insights confirming its value in helping farmers make better breeding decisions and drive genetic improvement in New Zealand's beef herd.
The Innovation Awards at June's National Fieldays showcased several new ideas, alongside previous entries that had reached commercial reality.
To assist the flower industry in reducing waste and drive up demand, Wonky Box has partnered with Burwood to create Wonky Flowers.
Three new directors are joining Horticulture New Zealand’s board from this month.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) says proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will leave the door wide open for continued conversions of productive sheep and beef farms into carbon forestry.
Federated Farmers says a report to Parliament on the subject of a ban on carbon forestry does not go far enough to prevent continued farm to forestry conversions.