Ele Ludemann: Ag out of ETS

The government has honoured its promise to keep agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme:

The Government will deliver on its election commitment to take agriculture out of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and will establish a new Pastoral Sector Group to constructively tackle biogenic methane, Coalition Government Agriculture and Climate Change Ministers say.

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand farmers are some of the world’s most carbon-efficient food producers.

“The Government is committed to meeting our climate change obligations without shutting down Kiwi farms. It doesn’t make sense to send jobs and production overseas, while less carbon-efficient countries produce the food the world needs.

“That is why we are focused on finding practical tools and technology for our farmers to reduce their emissions in a way that won’t reduce production or exports. . .

Making farmers pay for emissions without practical tools to reduce them would just have been a tax on production.

It would have led to less production, higher food prices, job losses, less to export and less income as a result of that.

It would also have led to emissions leakage as less efficient farmers in other countries with less stringent environmental requirements increased production to fill the gaps left by stock losses here.

The government has also killed off He Waka Eke Noa which pleases Federated Farmers:

Federated Farmers are welcoming today’s Government announcement that the fatally flawed He Waka Eke Noa partnership will be disestablished immediately.

“The previous Government were too focused on pricing farmers, driving blindly towards unachievable, political, unscientific methane reduction targets,” Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says.

“There was a complete disregard for the significant and unjustifiable costs this would place on hardworking farming families and the wider New Zealand economy.”

Langford says Federated Farmers would never accept a plan that would see 20% of sheep and beef farms, and 5% of dairy farmers, priced out of existence.

“From day one Federated Farmers made it clear that we had three firm bottom lines when it comes to climate policy that we were unwilling to compromise on,” Langford says.

“As soon as it became clear He Waka Eke Noa wasn’t going to be able to meet those bottom lines, that’s when we walked away from the negotiating table.”

Federated Farmers’ bottom lines were that methane targets would be reviewed, viable and cost-effective tools would be available for farmers, and no emissions leakage would occur.

“We can see those bottom lines explicitly reflected in today’s Government announcement and that gives us a lot of confidence for the future,” Langford says.

“There is a clear acknowledgement that Kiwi farmers are going to need tools and technology so we can reduce emissions without reducing our production or exports.

Far too much climate change policy has been based on politics and bureaucracy as a reaction to pressure from climate catastrophisers and eco-zealots.

Policy seeking science-based solutions with the tools and technology to reduce emissions is a welcome change.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.