Dead in the water
OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is now dead in the water.
OPINION: The dust from the 2020 general election has settled and Labour has been given the mandate to govern New Zealand for the next three years.
With the Greens roped into a cooperation agreement by Jacinda Ardern and handed two portfolios, including Climate Change for co-leader James Shaw, farmers should be under no illusion that there will be any let-up on the state’s crusade on clean waterways and farm greenhouse gas emissions.
While thankfully the Greens radical ideologies, like reducing cow numbers and phasing out the use of synthetic nitrogen, are off the table, David Parker has retained the Environment portfolio, much to the dismay of many farmers.
Federated Farmers expects there will be little difference to what occurred during the past three years – two major pieces of legislation relating to healthy waterway and Zero Carbon both creating challenges for farmers.
Farmers will be watching closely how Parker uses his party’s absolute majority to make more draconian changes to this legislation.
The Labour Party’s policies on freshwater management are established and some have already come into effect. There are new limits on farm practices deemed higher-risk, such as winter grazing and feed lots, and interim limits on agricultural intensification.
A national cap on the use of synthetic fertiliser will also be imposed, to be reviewed in three years.
Labour also introduced new rules for intensive winter grazing that came into effect in early September. These included not allowing winter grazing on sloped land with more than a 10-degree angle, and limits on the depth of pugged soil. It also gave a deadline of November 1 to farmers for sowing winter crops.
If farmers couldn’t comply, resource consent would be required. The Government then walked back on some parts of the regulations after admitting they were impractical. Pugging around stock troughs became exempt, and the definition was amended.
Farmers would be hoping that the Greens’ influence on Ardern’s Government would be minimal.
The Greens are not expected to let up on their flawed campaign for clean waterways and the environment. Parker has proven that he is happy to sing from the same song sheet as the Greens.
But one would hope that the large number of Labour electorate MPs from rural constituencies would go into bat for farmers. Here’s hoping.
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.