Editorial: Happy days
OPINION: The year has started positively for New Zealand dairy farmers and things are likely to get better.
Thirteen research projects have received funding approvals totalling $3.1 million through MPI’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change (SLMACC) research programme.
SLMACC supports new climate change knowledge generation in the agriculture and forestry sectors for adaption, mitigation, and cross-cutting issues.
Ministry for Primary Industries Director General, Martyn Dunne says it's essential to invest in research to better understand our future operating environment and how we need to adapt.
“We set research priority topics each funding round based on themes areas we want to investigate further for the benefit of primary industries. We consult internal and external experts to determine those topics.”
This year there were 12 priority topic areas under the three themes:
impacts of climate change and adaptionmitigation of agricultural and forestry greenhouse gas (GHG) emissionscross-cutting issues, including economic analysis, life-cycle analysis, farm catchment systems analysis, and social impact.
“We received an extremely high calibre of applicants and were very impressed with the proposed research topics,” says Dunne.
“Each project will take up to three years to complete, and the findings will help researchers, government, and farmers better understand, adapt to and mitigate climate change effects in New Zealand's primary sectors.
“At each project's end, the full report will be made available on this website and the Climate Cloud website, and user friendly summaries will be made more widely available.”
Additional reductions to costs for forest owners in the Emissions Trading Scheme Registry (ETS) have been announced by the Government.
Animal welfare is of paramount importance to New Zealand's dairy industry, with consumers increasingly interested in how food is produced, not just the quality of the final product.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay is encouraging farmers and growers to stay up to date with weather warnings and seek support should they need it.
The closure of SH2 Waioweka Gorge could result in significant delays and additional costs for freight customers around the Upper North Island, says Transporting New Zealand.
OPINION: The year has started positively for New Zealand dairy farmers and things are likely to get better.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General Ray Smith believes there is potential for an increase in dairy farming in New Zealand.

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