Running an emissions consultation roadshow during red traffic light restrictions is a challenge but farmers are still managing to have their say, DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel says.
"We've had over 2000 people either come to the direct face-to-face meetings or join usonline so we've had a reasonable number," Van der Poel told The Country's Jamie Mackay.
DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) are industry partners of the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership, He Waka Eke Noa, which is advocating for farmers to get a fair deal when agriculture emissions are priced by 2025.
He Waka Eke Noa has proposed two options for farmers to consider.
1. A farm-level levy 2. A processor-level hybrid levy
The Government has legislated that agricultural emissions will enter the NZ ETS if an effective, workable alternative is not put forward by the Partnership.
The consultation closes on March 27 and He Waka Eke Noa will put its proposed alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the Government by May 31, after taking farmer feedback into account.
It was imperative that farmers got involved and had their say, whether virtually or in person, Van der Poel said.
"We think it's very important for farmers and it's important for us that as we finalise the options of what we go back to Government with and that we have as much farmer input as possible."
Farmers' opinions were helping to shape He Waka Eke Noa's ideas as well, he said.
"We've already had some really good feedback from farmers that will help in our thinking."
Consultations so far were a 50/50 mix of sharing information and taking feedback, Van der Poel said.
"We've been working on this for two years and we felt that farmers would at least want to know what our thinking was over those two years. So we decided that it was important that we shared that with them.
"It is a genuine consultation. So farmers have the right to actually agree or disagree or come up with alternatives or think about it differently and that's what we have encouraged."
One thing everyone agreed on was entering the ETS was undesirable, Van der Poel said.
"We actually think that's a very bad option for farming and a very bad option for New Zealand because we don't think it will achieve the targets of actually reducing emissions – it will just be a huge tax.
"Farmers overwhelmingly agree that they don't want to end up in the ETS. So once we get to that point in the meetings it's [about] debating the pros and cons of the two options that are available."
So far it looked like the farm-level levy was the preferred option, Van der Poel said.
"They want to be directly invoiced for their own emissions, not an industry average, and if they make improvements in their farming systems, they want to be recognised and rewarded for that."
However, there may have to be a transition period to achieve this levy by the May 31 deadline and therefore farmers might have to settle for option two for a time.
Some farmers accepted this but others wanted He Waka Eke Noa to "crack on" with implementing option one, Van der Poel said.
"That's where we're at from all the feedback that we've had."
Due to high farmer interest, more than 15 extra online regional meetings have been added to the DairyNZ and B+LNZ agriculture emissions pricing consultation.
Farmers can register for a regional meeting now or fill out a feedback form via dairynz.co.nz.
