Federated Farmers say the ‘Why Pines?’ report released today by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge should serve as a major wake-up call for the Government.

"It may have been published as a report, but it reads more like a horror story for New Zealand’s farmers and rural communities," says Federated Farmers meat & wool chair Toby Williams.

"The study makes it very clear that under the current policy settings we will continue to see millions of hectares of productive farmland plastered in plantation pine trees.

"Planting pine trees as far as the eye can see may well help reduce emissions or improve water quality, but somebody has to ask the question - at what cost?

"I can tell you; it will come at the expense of rural communities, food production, the economy, and our native biodiversity. There simply has to be a better way."

The Our Land and Water National Science Challenge report shows that meeting the current freshwater bottom lines will require widespread land use change from farming to forestry.

"One of the studies found that even if there was no carbon price, one fifth of sheep and beef country would still need to be converted to pine forest to meet freshwater goals," Williams says.

"This must be of huge concern to the Government, who scrapped the failed He Waka Eke Noa pricing programme because it was going to have the exact same effect."

Fixing New Zealand’s unworkable freshwater rules and rethinking our ETS forestry settings were both included in Federated Farmers' list of policy priorities for restoring farmer confidence.

"While the Government has done lots of good things to restore farmer confidence, unfortunately the Labour Government’s freshwater bottom lines remain on the books," Williams says.

"These rules are completely unrealistic and unworkable. Federated Farmers have consistently called for them to be scrapped, with a new focus put on replacing the broken RMA system.

"If the Government want farmers to increase the value of our exports and adapt to changing conditions, we need to be able to change our land use as opportunities pop up.

"Unfortunately, under the current system, every time a farmer tries to do something different on their land they’re met with nothing but red tape and expensive consenting costs.

"Our current environmental policy framework is completely broken. The Government needs to work at pace to urgently repeal unworkable freshwater bottom lines and replace the RMA."

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