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With the Government wanting to implement huge costs on the livestock farming sector by making New Zealand the only country to include farming in an ETS, this old mutt thought it might actually get serious about funding mitigation research.
However, it seems PR stunts and warm fuzzies are the order of the day, going by its most recent effort.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor gained huge media attention for the Government’s backing of a project that “could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle”.
But this “backing” amounted to a piffling $100,000 granted to the Cawthron Institute to see if a native seaweed might be turned into a greenhouse gas-busting cattle feed supplement.
The joke is that $100,000 is far less than O’Connor and his office staff would spend a year on travel, and apparently AgResearch has already rejected the seaweed option.
A company growing and processing seaweed with known methane-busting properties at a facility in Bluff is expanding internationally but New Zealand cattle farmers won't be getting the product anytime soon.
OPINION: A new study, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to some existing evidence about a simple way to cut emissions dramatically - seaweed.
OPINION: Research across the ditch has found that seaweed doesn’t just make a tasty wrap for sushi rolls.
Federated Farmers have reiterated their support for the coalition Government to abolish the present ban on the live export of animals.
As the coalition Government mulls new regulations to reinstate the export of live animals, debate is heating up between supporters and opponents.
A landmark New Zealand trial has confirmed what many farmers have long suspected - that strategic spring nitrogen use not only boosts pasture growth but delivers measurable gains in lamb growth and ewe condition.
It was recently announced that former MP and Southland farmer Eric Roy has stepped down of New Zealand Pork after seven years. Leo Argent talks with Eric about his time at the organisation and what the future may hold.
It's critical that the horticulture sector works together as part of a goal to double the sector’s exports by 2035.
RaboResearch, the research arm of specialist agriculture industry banker Rabobank, sees positives for the Alliance Group in its proposed majority-stake sale to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
The ACT Party's call for a better deal on the Paris Agreement on climate change is being backed by farmer organisations.
A 50% tariff slapped by the US on goods from India last month has opened an opportunity for New Zealand wool carpets exports to North America.
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