Government policies threaten NZ’s 2030 export goals, farmers warn
The Government is being warned that some recent bad policy decisions are undermining its target of doubling exports by 2030.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment report highlights that this issue is not as simple as whether agriculture is in or out of the ETS.
It requires a broader discussion than that, he says.
“For example, planting the right trees, in the right place, at the right time can buy us time to find options to reduce biological emissions from agriculture.”
The Government is supporting these efforts through the Afforestation Grant Scheme, the Erosion Control Funding Programme and the Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change research programme.
“The Government is also investing $20 million a year in research into developing new mitigation options like a vaccine to reduce emissions from agriculture, which is a very promising long term option.”
Guy says agricultural emissions make up 49% of New Zealand’s gross emissions.
“Reducing them while growing our economy is a difficult challenge, but it’s one we must solve.
“For that reason we recently established the biological emissions reference group to work with the sector to state an objective and agreed understanding of what can be done to reduce agricultural emissions.”
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
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