MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday, 3 July 2012

For immediate release

DairyNZ welcomes ETS decision and sharpens focus on emissions research

DairyNZ is committed to finding farm-ready options to mitigate agricultural emissions while welcoming the deferral of agricultural entry into the ETS.

The Government’s confirmation that it will defer the entry of agricultural emissions into the ETS until at least 2015, pending a review to assess whether such technologies exist, is sensible and pragmatic, says DairyNZ General Manager Policy and Advocacy Simon Tucker.

“DairyNZ’s position is that agricultural emissions should not be included in the ETS until practical, economically-viable mitigation technologies are available under farm-level conditions,” Mr Tucker says.

“We are pleased to see the Government take a considered view of where our country sits, relevant to our trading partners, to ensure we can make progress while still being competitive.”

“The dairy industry is committed to a strategy of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions intensity and maintaining its position as world leaders in low carbon intensity dairy production.

“New Zealand’s dairy sector is working through the challenge of finding practical ways to reduce our emissions by investing heavily in research.

“To-date our investment in dairy farm system research shows it is quite possible to make good progress in this area by making efficiency improvements on farms. But we do not yet have a reliable silver bullet.

“DairyNZ alone invests nearly $1m each year into reducing methane and other agricultural gas emissions through funding the world-leading science being carried out by the Pastoral Green House Gas Research Consortium (PGgRC).

“A similar amount of funding is being invested into a seven year DairyNZ-led research project where dairy cows are being evaluated to see how efficiently they can convert feed into milk while reducing emissions.

“DairyNZ has also maintained that New Zealand’s dairy farmers should not face a price on carbon until our trading competitors face similar and equivalent obligations.

“It’s appropriate that this is also a factor in the Government’s 2014 review.

“We look forward to working with the Government as it moves into the review period.”

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ABOUT DAIRYNZ
DairyNZ is the industry good organisation representing New Zealand’s dairy farmers. We are funded by a levy on milksolids and our purpose is to secure and enhance the profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of New Zealand dairy farming. We deliver value to farmers through leadership, influencing, investing, partnering with other organisations and through our own strategic capability. Our work includes research and development to create practical on-farm tools, leading on-farm adoption of best practice farming, promoting careers in dairying and advocating for farmers with central and regional government. For more information, visit www.dairynz.co.nz.

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