Costs too high?
OPINION: This old mutt is loath to sound like Groundswell has been topping up his bowl with brisket off-cuts, but the ginger group makes a good point about the arguments raised in favour of toeing the Paris Agreement line.
OPINION: Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
That's the line Deputy Prime Minister and ACT leader David Seymour used on a windy South Auckland dairy farm as he launched his party's position on climate change.
For so long, NZ's mighty hydro lakes and geothermal wells let New Zealanders have it both ways.
"We could go to heaven for having low emissions, but we didn't have to die by having the lights go out. Unfortunately, that golden age of easy choices is over," Seymour says.
ACT is taking a middle ground approach to the Paris Agreement - it's not advocating for leaving the climate change pact, not yet anyway.
It is demanding changes, failing which, we exit the deal, adopted in the French capital in 2015.
New Zealand's 2050 climate target of cutting methane emissions by 24 to 47% of 2017 levels was set by the previous Labour government.
The current Government is being urged by farmer lobby groups to lower the target, and back away from any plans to put a price on methane. A scientific panel, appointed by National, found cutting methane 14-24% of 2017 levels by 2050 would achieve no added warming, but Cabinet has not said whether it will adopt that range as a target.
By seeking changes, ACT is seeking a better deal for farmers - meaning a fairer, more scientific approach to methane.
It has never made sense to treat cow burps the same way as emissions from coal-burning.
The farming community is warming to ACT's potion.
The problem may not be the Paris Agreement itself, but how it's being applied in New Zealand that is hurting farmers and rural communities. Overly ambitious methane reduction targets, whole-farm conversions to carbon forestry, and plans to price agricultural emissions are all homegrown policies.
While not everyone may be willing to put the 'Quit Paris' sticker on their car bumper, they agree on one thing - changes are needed.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
An early adopter of a 10-in-7 variable milking regime, the Lincoln University Demonstration Dairy Farm (LUDF) is tweaking the system this season in search of further boosting farm performance and profitability.
The dairy sector is in a relatively stable position, with strong milk price payout forecasts continuing to offset ongoing high farm costs, according to DairyNZ.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Fonterra has delivered a fifth straight year of record organic milk price for farmer suppliers.
Fonterra says favourable weather conditions supporting pasture growth is boosting milk production.
OPINION: If the comments about the deceased Tom Phillips posted on social media by keyboard warriors were representative of parenting…
OPINION: This old mutt is loath to sound like Groundswell has been topping up his bowl with brisket off-cuts, but…