HortNZ Board Election 2025: Growers urged to vote before 10 July deadline
Commercial fruit and vegetable growers are being encouraged to cast their votes in the Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) board directors' election.
Horticulture NZ is one of the primary sector parties involved in the industry-wide initiative He Waka Eke Noa, to provide government with an alternative option to the ETS in dealing with on farm orchard/greenhouse gas emissions.
Hort NZ chair Barry O'Neil says the issue is much simpler for growers because they don't have to worry about methane - only nitrous oxide, which comes from fertiliser. He says growers can understand why pastoral farmers favour a pricing mechanism based at the farm level.
"What we really want as growers is a low-cost emissions administration system," he told Hort News.
"We don't want to have to fund significant administration costs because we are just simple users of fertilisers. There were some ridiculous figures bandied around, ranging $60 million to $100 million to administer it," O'Neil explains.
"That is just crazy. We believe that our farm assurance plans, which we already have in place, such a NZGAP, should be the vehiclue used to meet this requirementand other regulatory requirements. There is no need to reinvent the wheel."
O'Neil wants the horticulture sector to focus on those really big issues that are needed for future success - such as climate change. He says with more floods and droughts occurring on a more regular basis, there needs to be a focus on things such as water storage and resilience and covered crop growing to mitigate risk.
"I think we are getting dragged down and spending time on issues that I don't see are as important for the future benefit and success of our future," he says.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Groundswell is ramping up its 'Quit Paris' campaign with signs going up all over the country.
Some farmers in the Nelson region are facing up to five years of hard work to repair their damaged properties caused by the recent devastating floods.
Federated Farmers is joining major industry-good bodies in not advocating for the Government to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
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