National's Christopher Luxon on IPCC climate change report, NZ's dairy herd

National leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National Party leader Christopher Luxon is not a fan of culling New Zealand's dairy herd.

"I've got no time for that whatsoever," he told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

Recently, Greenpeace called for the Government to "halve the herd", following the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Luxon said there was no need for this, as Kiwi farmers were already "the most carbon-efficient in the world".

"We actually feed 40 million people around the world; it's 80 per cent of our foreign export earnings - $9000 for every Kiwi in the country – earned through farming," he said.

There needed to be a shift in perspective about farming in New Zealand, he said.

"What we've got to do is change our mindset and not say farmers are villains. We've actually got to say we lead the world and we're going to be world beaters and we're going to continue to do so."

While there was "no simple pathway through agricultural emissions" Luxon believed investment in research and development was a good place to start.

"We should be leading the world and the other 65 agricultural countries to find the solutions - but we don't do it by culling the herd."

Fewer cows meant production would move offshore to another country that wasn't as carbon-efficient, Luxon said.

"That's actually worse off for global climate change. So it's bad news if you're going to do that because those people still need to be fed and they just go to another country that's not as good as New Zealand."

Luxon is in Northland today and ready to talk to farmers about their concerns.

"I'm going to a town hall in Waipū, meet with some farmers and get a sense of what the issues are here in Northland," he said.

Listen below:

"I really enjoy these weeks where we're not in Parliament and we can get out and about across the country and you can meet with real folk who are confronted with real issues."

Also in today's interview: Luxon talked about inflation and Government spending, Easter trading rules, the global supply chain and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's overseas trade talks. He also said he was happy to answer unscripted questions.