Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor, and Climate Change Minister James Shaw are making an announcement in the Wairarapa on the Government's plan to reduce agricultural emissions.
Video / Mark Mitchell
The impact of a new farm emissions plan will have farmers thinking "I can't do this any more", a Bay of Plenty farmer says.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the plan pragmatic but it was heavily criticised by Federated Farmers national president Andrew Hoggard, who said it would "rip the guts out of small town New Zealand" by facilitating the conversion of sheep and beef farms in particular into trees.
The Government's plan was also estimated to reduce land in sheep and beef farming by 20 per cent by 2030, compared with 5 per cent for dairy.
Nearly half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from the sector and while other industries paid for emissions through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the agriculture sector did not.
Its emissions mostly come through livestock burping methane, as well as nitrous oxide from sources like fertiliser and cow urine.
Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers president Brent Mountfort was concerned for the sheep and beef farming communities.
Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers president and Matatā farmer Brent Mountfort. Photo / Supplied
"Rural parts of the Bay and down the coast already struggle with social issues that come directly from a lack of viable employment and income," Mountfort said.
"This will hit our more vulnerable communities the hardest."
He estimated there were 100-plus sheep and beef farmers in the region he advocated for, and said they were often active community members.
"There will be a lot of farmers who think: 'I can't do this anymore'."
He worried about the next generation who might say farming was "too hard".
"The family farm is at risk."
Farmers wanted to do their bit fighting climate change, he said, but felt already achieved sequestration was not recognised under the plan.
He said his own 270ha farm had 80ha of native bush, and that he sequested more than was emitted.
Rotorua president Colin Guyton said the negative effect on the region's rural communities "will be huge".
He said farmers could "of course" continue to improve on their environmental footprint and adopt technology as it became available.
Bay of Plenty Green Party convenor Josh Cole said short-term success cannot hamstring future generations and the life-supporting capacity of the planet.
"Yes, the way we are farming today has put the sector at the top of our most successful industries... but those at the top need to change things to stop their already vulnerable farmers [from] wanting to quit the industry.
"This is too much for individual farmers to tackle all on their own."
He said it was a half-baked plan that "might" meet climate targets, but said the Green Party was not okay with maybes.
"We have just had almost the wettest winter on record in Tauranga, the Marlborough Sounds were flooded - twice, and Westport was flooded thrice.
"The latest science says that there is absolutely still time to act now to ensure this doesn't get worse."
Suggestions to alter the proposed plan included capping farm climate pollution, and reducing it every year; new tech that would reduce emissions as well as herd size; committing to pricing fertiliser emissions through the ETS and rapidly phasing out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O'Connor said the proposals from He Waka Eke Noa, the partnership between farmers, the ag sector bodies and Māori, and the Government were essentially the same.
They differed in only two ways; who should set the price for the split gases, and how sequestration should best be managed.
"We believed decisions on pricing should be made by ministers who are informed by independent advice from the Climate Change Commission."
Both proposals recognised the role of sequestration and its complexity, he said.
"We believe, however, that in accounting for sequestration we must not add unnecessary complexity and paperwork for people on farms.
"That is where we would like to find a practical and efficient solution through this consultation."
He said he believed that by developing new technology and practices for farmers through major investments it was making in business "we will adapt, reduce our emissions and maintain our productive levels".
