New Zealand Government Naive and Confused

Press Release: Please share far and wide,
we need every farmer in New Zealand to read this.

New Zealand farmers are aghast at the environmentally-ignorant and economically-inept GHG emissions targets announced by the Coalition Government last week.

Even worse than previous targets from the Green party playbook, the Nats have now shown their anaemically weak understanding of science and have instead taken the impotent option of simply demanding higher generic targets. We thought we had a coalition who understood the economy, who could see through rampant extremism in climate change positioning and would acknowledge the fact that Kiwi farmers are the best in the world producing more food with lower emissions.

We are the only sector in the world that actually utilises a GHG as part of our food production through photosynthesis process, and the only sector with an offset. Pasture-raised livestock are net sequesters of greenhouse gases but is ignored by our own sector as this doesn’t suit the current ideology.

These targets are not only unnecessary and misguided, they now fast-track the destruction of the integrity of our world-class red meat protein production as we loom towards feed additives and expensive interference with natural methane processes through a myriad of pointless vaccines, boluses and misguided genetics. The real shame is the waste of taxpayer money and science resources that will be diverted even further towards chasing methane fairies instead of genuine R & D.

The Government is asking for a fight on this and a fight they will get. We will need individual farmers mobilised in order to do this, as our own sector leaders have simply appeased and agreed - all in the name of gaining accolades, funding and avoiding embarrassment around the $1 Billion that has been squandered on methane "reduction" to date.

Minister Watts needs a cold bath of reality. At the very same time that his own government demands increased production and growth, he has just cut the wings off the golden goose that would have paid for hospitals and healthcare that we already cannot afford. The sad reality is that all New Zealanders will pay for these misguided targets through even higher energy and food costs and continued slower economic growth.

Prepare for more pine trees and a further decline of our sector.

Jane Smith

Methane Science Accord founding member,
NZ representative Global Farmer Roundtable, Environmentalist and free-range farmer.