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: Climate change is shaping up to be one of the major issues at next year's general election.
While National feels they have done enough for farmers by repealing unfair regulations piled on by the previous Labour government, methane reduction targets are becoming a thorn in the side of National, the main party in the coalition Government. More so, when the two junior coalition partners, ACT and NZ First, aren't warming up to the Paris climate agreement.
Adopted in 2015, the deal relies on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), where each country sets its own emission reduction targets and commits to actions to adapt to climate change impacts.
Farmers are making their views clear: scores of billboards are being ordered from Groundswell's website and going up on farms near state highways across the country. These farmers suspect that any target National sets will lead to, among other things, more productive sheep and beef land converted to forestry.
Groundswell leader Bryce McKenzie says National is getting irritated by their 'Quit Paris' campaign. But he says they are getting a sympathetic hearing from NZ First and ACT.
He expects both the smaller parties to make their positions clearer closer to the election.
NZ First has expressed reservations about the Paris Agreement, specifically questionung the clarity and achievability of its targets. ACT leader and deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has hinted they could make withdrawing NZ from the Paris Accord an ACT election promise next year.
For National, the dilemma is two-fold: Firstly, the rural-urban divide, where many urban voters want to see action on climate change and leaving the Paris deal could alienate voters. Secondly, within the farming community, there's a growing number of voters who want NZ out of the Paris Agreement, just like the US has done under Donald Trump's presidency.
The Government has secured the backing of industry-good organisations, who are calling for NZ to stick with the Paris deal, but it's the farmer votes that will count come election day next year.
A US-based company developing a vaccine to reduce methane emissions in cattle has received another capital injection from New Zealand’s agriculture sector.
Wools of New Zealand has signed a partnership agreement with a leading Chinese manufacturer as the company looks to further grow demand in China and globally.
Opportunities for Māori are there for the taking if they scale up their operations and work more closely together.
OPINION: Farmer shareholders of two of New Zealand's largest co-operatives have an important decision to make this month and what they decide could change the landscape of the dairy and meat sectors in New Zealand.
As the first of a new series of interprofessional rural training hubs opened in South Taranaki late September, Rural Health Network has celebrated the move as a "key pathway to encourage the growth and retention of health professionals in rural areas".
Farming leader and former MP Owen Jennings will represent New Zealand at the II Congreso Mundial de Ganadería Sostenible (II World Congress on Sustainable Livestock) in Spain next month.
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