Clarity needed
OPINION: This month, the government announced a pause to the rollout of the national farm plan system.
Zespri, in collaboration with ANL/CMA CGM, has initiated a feasibility study to investigate the potential for a low-emissions shipping corridor from Tauranga to Zeebrugge, Belgium, through the Panama Canal.
Zespri executive officer sustainability Rachel Depree says shipping plays a key role in New Zealand’s export-driven economy, carrying 99% of the country’s trade by volume and approximately 80% by value.
“Low-emissions shipping is a critical part of carbon reduction for exporters and also underpins our collective ability to achieve the government’s goal of doubling export value over the next 10 years,” Depree says.
“Collectively, we are already facing rising costs as carbon is priced into the economy and our markets and customers are starting to demand targets and plans to lower emissions over time,” she says.
Depree says shipping emissions is a key challenge to decarbonising the kiwifruit industry and meeting Zespri’s climate commitments.
“While kiwifruit is a low-carbon product, shipping emissions make up a larger portion of the product’s overall carbon footprint at 43% - and that’s why action is a priority.”
She says that, like many exporters, Zespri cannot directly reduce shipping emissions itself hence the reason why the exporter is working with its shipping and distribution partners to improve efficiency and find opportunities to pilot low-emissions fuel solutions as it works towards its aim of being carbon positive by 2035.
“This includes continuing to advocate for new port infrastructure and supporting the introduction of more low emissions shipping vessels, fuels and technology – all of which are critical and which require significant investment,” says Depree.
“The problem is significant and the answer complex but we do know success here will require coordinated action across government and supply chains,” she says.
WorkSafe is recommending the dairy industry reassess its use of slide pulsators, following a recent death in a Waikato milking shed.
The 63rd National Holstein Friesian Bull sale this week (September 18) will mark 54 consecutive years that retiring Kerepehi breeder Michael Lynch has entered and sold his bulls at the event.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients has launched SimplyFert, an ex-hub and therefore lower-cost offering said to give its shareholders choice and flexibility for purchasing nutrients.
Chloe Jones wears three hats and it's this trifecta that makes her tick.
LIC is embarking on a ground-breaking project aimed at breeding heat tolerant and disease resistant dairy cows for Sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with the global leader in precision breeding, Acceligen, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
A critically threatened endemic freshwater fish found only in Canterbury has been discovered at a Craigmore Sustainables farm near Timaru.
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