It's time we got real as a nation about our carbon emissions. New Zealand produces only 0.17% of world emissions of “Green House Gas”.

 The current government is using flawed data and assumptions to unfairly disadvantage and hobble New Zealand farmers, and put our food security, rural economy and future at risk.  Farmers are rightfully up in arms about the Governments ETS policy targeting them. Government seems to be forgetting that farming is a non-negotiable; without food growers everything else fails.

We must not let this Government put food supplies and our communities at risk for a solution that doesn’t make sense. As Kiwi farmers are among the most efficient farmers in the world, cutting back food production here, just to see demand being met by less-efficient farmers overseas is counterproductive. If this is a ‘global agenda’ to save the planet, punishing our farmers doesn’t make sense if the planet is harmed somewhere else by others filling the gap in the market.   

“FARM” – Facts About Ruminant Methane, a farming group arguing against ‘the fart tax’, says that the government has got it wrong and that farm emissions are not 48% of our total emissions. They also say the measuring system for comparing methane and CO2 is out-dated and just plain incorrect. FARM’s figures show if the Carbon price reaches $140.00 a tonne, the average dairy farm will get an annual bill of $240,000 and at the current Carbon price the cost will be $70,000 p.a. These taxes will just increase the cost of living for most consumers, without any visible or measurable benefits and exports will lose their competitive pricing.  It’s a lose:lose situation.

Another group “50 Shades of Grey” are alarmed about the Government incentivising land use change towards planting trees to generate carbon credits, particularly pine trees. Rightly, 50SOG recognises when a farmer makes more money growing pine trees than growing food, there will be unintended consequences. Pines are a massive fire risk – remember what happened in Nelson not so long ago? The Outdoors & Freedom Party would incentivise farmers to plant natives not pines, on riparian and marginal land and wetlands, not just to ‘combat global warming’ but for all the other benefits it brings. 

 He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN), an industry group that has come up with an ETS alternative, still believes that farmers should pay to emit but can use all the farm resources to mitigate those costs, such as good farming practise and carbon sequestration in the soil. The Government is completely ignoring efforts by HWEN to reach a workable, if laborious, compromise which shows that Government is acting in bad faith and have another agenda.

Agenda 2030, that Jacinda Ardern is so excited about implementing here, was not agreed on by the people that it will be affecting. She made a promise to be the first in the world to implement the UN Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals into every key policy.  This is happening overseas as well.  The Netherlands Government aim to halve nitrogen oxide and ammonia produced in their country by 2030.  According to government estimates, this could lead to the closure of about 30 percent of livestock farms in the Netherlands. The local farmers have staged massive protests which have not been reported in our press. We expect the same here, and Outdoors & Freedom Party will be supporting our farmers when they turn out to protest.

The Paris Accord requires any measures on climate change to be instituted “in a manner that does not threaten food production”. Clearly, the Prime Minister hasn’t read or understood the documents. 

The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party is concerned that family farms will go broke and we’ll lose not just our farmers, but also end up selling even more farm land to overseas interests and corporate farmers.  CAFCA - Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa states that 8.7% of our farm land is already foreign owned. It would be a shame to lose more due to Government policy based on globalist ideology but again, they do appear to be acting for them not us.

The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party is alarmed by the impact these proposals will have on our rural communities and farmers already facing compliance costs. We have a philosophy in support of the democratic process, that those people who are affected by legislation, should have a say in that legislation. This proposal, along with other Government legislation over the past two years, is completely un-democratic.

 We believe we need to look after New Zealanders first and foremost and policies should ensure food security, as well as self-sufficiency.

The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party agricultural policy focus is more meaningful; reducing pollution and toxic chemicals than just paying for carbon credits. We believe in the carrot, not the stick, approach by incentivising farmers to use organic and regenerative farming practices that create healthier soil and increases production over time with the added bonus of creating more nutritious food. If voted into parliament in 2023, we will work to reinstate 1) the Farmers Bank to support farmers financially to achieve more on their farms and 2) Independent Science Support so farmers get the best information for their particular land type from an independent source, not someone trying to sell them something.

Groundswell, the farming protest group, is also concerned about unworkable regulations and unfair targeting of farmers and are organising a protest action this week, which Outdoors & Freedom Party members will be out supporting.

Refs:

1)    https://hewakaekenoa.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FINAL-He-Waka-Eke-Noa-Executive-Summary.pdf

2)    https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-life-other/emissions-pricing-rural-nz-%E2%80%98ready%E2%80%99-protest

3)    https://farmemissions.co.nz/home/

4)    https://www.tanestrees.org.nz/

5)    https://www.50shadesofgreen.co.nz/

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