ACT MPs Slam Green Party's Fertiliser Ban Policy
Retiring MP and dairy farmer Mark Cameron is blasting the Green Party for proposing to ban the use of synthetic fertiliser and cutting cow numbers.
OPINION: The Hound was astounded at the glib response from Greens leader James Shaw to a written parliamentary question from ACT MP Mark Cameron.
Shaw was asked if he was surprised that farmer confidence was at a record low in the latest Farm Confidence Survey and if he believed one of the top concerns of farmer respondents was "regulation and compliance costs - a catch-all for the wave of reform, regulation, red tape and costs swamping the sector?"
Shaw replied: "The agriculture sector contributes 50% of New Zealand's gross emissions. Approximately 94% of our nitrous oxide emissions and around 91% of our biogenic methane emissions are from agriculture."
Cameron actually thought Shaw's office had mistakenly submitted the wrong answer, but they clarified it is exactly what the Climate Change Minister intended to say.
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson says his party – NZ First - isn’t opposed to the “trade element” of a free trade deal with India.
The managing director of a company seeking to build a solar farm in Canterbury says receiving fast-track approval is a “really positive outcome”.
Retiring MP and dairy farmer Mark Cameron is blasting the Green Party for proposing to ban the use of synthetic fertiliser and cutting cow numbers.
A huge reduction in ACC claims from on-farm accidents over the last five years is due to thousands of small, practical decisions being made in sheds, yards, paddocks and around kitchen tables across the country, says Safer Farms ambassador Lindy Nelson.
Wayne and Ange Moxham of Horowhenua have just been named as Fonterra's top organic performer for milksolids. As well as providing organic milk to Fonterra, the couple also sell Udderly Organic milk to more than 100 outlets in the region and are embarking on another exciting venture producing organic gelato. Reporter Peter Burke went along to see their farming operation.
Certainty and a clear understanding of the needs of rural communities is a critical outcome in the series of government reforms that are taking place at present.