Katikati farmer says sustainable farming cooling our planet

Rick Burke says the water quality in our streams on our farm are as good as you can get. Photo / Chris Steel

OPINION:
I was watching the TV3 show The Project when to my amazement Kanoa Lloyd said she was shying away from eating red meat because its production was warming the planet. In my opinion, she is being swayed by misinformation or fake news that has been generated by the big business fossil fuel high Co2 emitters.

Big business fossil fuel high Co2 emitters internationally have done a great job deflecting blame about global warming on to food producers, particularly red meat producers.

The good news is that sustainable red meat producers around the world are fighting back by rightfully arguing that by focussing on soil health and the growth of healthy, nutritious pastures we can in fact cool the planet (the opposite of warming the planet) by the sequestration of carbon through our soils and pastures.

A movie called Kiss The Ground is out on Netflix endorsing what I'm saying. It is a must watch!

There is a groundswell of farmers around the world focussing on soil health and using Regenerative Agriculture (RA) as the proxy to move towards demonstrating sustainable farming practices.

In New Zealand many sheep, beef and dairy farmers have subconsciously used RA principles since agriculture began in our great country.

These farmers are focused on optimising soil health and are growing mixed pasture species. They use fertiliser strategically to keep nutrient-deficient soils in balance.

Producing succulent lamb and beef has significant health benefits for the consumer.

They also grow their animals efficiently, ie. growing them to their genetic potential, keeping them healthy and happy, free to range on the farm grass-fed systems, producing succulent beef and lamb that has significant health benefits for the consumer.

It's disappointing hearing commentary from some of our leading scientists questioning and beating up on RA practices and principles.

Sometimes I think our leading scientists are defending unsustainable, high feed/nutrient input farm systems because of the capital investment in this space. These farm practices are in fact heating up our planet due to high methane and nitrous oxide outputs.

This is as bad as big business fossil fuel high Co2 emitters deflecting blame, so our leading scientists need to decide which Waka they want to be in!

Scientists and rural media should be supporting this RA movement by providing the relevant supporting science and commentary to ensure farmers find the "sweet spot" around optimising soil health, pasture production and growing healthy animals to their genetic potential in our different landscapes and soil types.

New Zealand's agricultural sectors, scientists and rural media need to embrace the RA movement and help define what our own RA narrative is so we can demonstrate this to consumers in New Zealand and globally through smart marketing post-Covid, showing that sustainable farming practices are in fact cooling our farms and the planet.

Think about the "Taste Pure Nature" marketing initiative by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ).

I am lucky on our own sheep and beef farm to have carried out a Land Environment Plan (LEP) with the help of our Bay of Plenty Regional Council back in 1998.

Twenty-two years on we have completed the majority of our environmental protection, reduced our farmed effective area by 25 per cent, introduced water and good fencing infrastructure and now, the water quality in our streams is as good as you can get.

Our profitability has been raised significantly on less effective land area and our total net greenhouse gas emissions across the whole farm (tonnes CO2e) has reduced by 60 per cent since 1999.

And this is without recognising any carbon sequestration for our pastures or soils.

Farmers are focused on optimising soil health and growing mixed pasture species.

Our big focus has been on soil health and pasture production, after all, we are grass/forage farmers. There will be many sheep, beef, and dairy farms across New Zealand that can tell this same great story.

I encourage all farmers to get to know their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) numbers. You can do this by contacting B+LNZ or Dairy NZ.

If you have good records, go back as far as you can into the 1990s, so that we can demonstrate to central government that in fact, we as farmers have been cooling our farms, not heating them up. (Noting the baseline settings under the Paris Accord Agreement was 1990.)

Your numbers will provide evidence to support the recent study commissioned by B+LNZ, led by Dr Bradley Case at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), which estimates the woody vegetation on New Zealand sheep and beef farms is offsetting between 63 per cent and 118 per cent of their on-farm agricultural emissions.

And to Kanoa Lloyd and The Project, get the story right — support farmers who have carried our great country through Covid-19!
And by the way, I love your show.