Opinion
22 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – September 6, 2021
Ammo for the anti-dairy brigade Alternative View
Alan Emerson
I WAS halted by a recent headline that read “Emissions from cows on dairy farms reach record levels”. I thought that was surprising as cow numbers are dropping. It was data from Statistics NZ for the years 2007 to 2019 that showed dairy emissions rose 3.18% in 2019. We were then told that “emissions created by the digestive systems of New Zealand’s 6.3 million cows are among NZ’s biggest environmental problems”. My response, in a word, is bollocks. Here’s the rub. Stats NZ count all emissions from dairy farms regardless of where they come from. That’s fine as far as total emissions are concerned, but it isn’t if you’re providing ammunition to the anti-dairy brigade. What that means is that if a farmer has a dairy herd, a beef unit and some sheep on harder country, then all those emissions are counted as dairy, which they’re obviously not. What it does is to allow some
deskbound bureaucrat to publish a pile of alarmist figures that aren’t correct. Conversely, the Ministry for the Environment, (MfE) only publishes the figures from dairy cows, which shows a decrease in emissions over the same period of .4%. I’d suggest there is a lot of difference between plus 3.8% and minus .4%. On one hand dairy gets pilloried, when on the other, using MfE figures, it is to be congratulated. That was followed by a headline that read “NZ records the biggest drop in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ever”. The Government reported that emissions from agriculture, forestry and fishing had dropped 1.7%. Conversely, our electricity, gas, water and waste services were up 13%, as we had to burn coal to generate electricity. Hasn’t the primary sector done well. The whole GHG reporting system is, as you can see, inconsistent. In addition, there are other factors that get conveniently ignored. For example, we know the ‘average’ dairy animal produces 82 kilograms of methane a year but that isn’t definitive. Individual cows vary, as do different types of feed. Logic would also suggest different breeds have different outputs as well. That makes statements like “3.18% increases”
meaningless in my view. Federated Farmers chair Andrew Hoggard says we need to look at trends not annual variations. He also believes we should be looking at the entire agricultural sector and not just part of it. I agree with both statements. If we consider the facts, total methane emissions from all livestock have moved little over the past decade. They’re just .45% higher than they were in 2009. Putting it in perspective, road transport emissions have more than doubled between 1990 and 2019. They’ve risen 28% since 2009. Adding to that, methane emissions have to fall just .3% a year over the next 30 years to meet our commitments, whereas transport emissions must fall to zero. Looking at it another way, in 2009 our meat and dairy export receipts were a little over $13 billion. That has since more than doubled to over $28b and that was achieved with an increase in emissions of just .45%. The sectors are to be congratulated on vastly improving NZ’s economic wellbeing, with an infinitesimal increase in GHG emissions. In addition, as I’ve mentioned in the past, NZ is by far the most energy efficient food producer in the world when it comes to GHGs. We should be growing more
PERCEPTION: Alan Emerson says recent reports suggest the mainstream media remain blissfully ignorant when it comes to agriculture’s considerable achievements.
animals here, not less, if we are serious about saving the planet. Alas, it seems our achievements are massive but our acknowledgement for those achievements is verging on the non-existent. For a start, I’m unaware of any plaudits from our politicians – of whatever colour. Come on folks, we’ve kept the country prosperous and maintained our environmental footprint. The provinces are awaiting plaudits. The mainstream media, always quick to criticise, remain blissfully ignorant when it comes to agriculture’s considerable achievements. I expect Greenpeace to lead the charge of the ill-informed and in the current case they didn’t disappoint. Their spokesperson told me in all seriousness that “the dairy industry itself wants to make (the GHG figure) look a lot better than it actually is”. He added “the
burning of coal for dehydration of milk powder by Fonterra is not counted as a dairy emission”. Greenpeace felt it should be. Well matey, if you buy an EV there’s a chance your charging will be with electricity supplied from the burning of coal. Conversely, Fonterra is taking steps to reduce coal use. It is to be congratulated. Then we had the ubiquitous Mike Joy from Victoria University suggesting that the Government pays farmers $12b to stop dairying. He went on to claim “the dairy industry’s yearly $12 billion export earnings were effectively a government subsidy that allowed harmful land use”. Really? My only advice to him would be to stay in the shallow end.
Your View Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath.emerson@gmail.com
In the crosshairs of a magpie From the Ridge
Steve Wyn-Harris
WHEN Tom and Elizabeth took the farm The bracken made their bed and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle The magpies said. Denis Glover’s opening stanza of his famous and familiar poem The Magpies – a favourite of mine and I’m sure of many of you. In just six stanzas, Tom and Elizabeth start farming, flourish then wither and pass on, but the magpies are a constant presence and remain. Twenty-five years of this column and I don’t recall ever having mentioned magpies. Somewhat surprising as they are a daily part of my life here on the farm and I need not remind you that the Hawke’s Bay rugby team dressed in their black and white are known as the Magpies and supported by Hawkeye their mascot.
There have always been heaps of them around the house and on the farm. There are often raucous engagements of groups of them around the house during the day and if you listen for them, they are always calling to each other. I enjoy watching them harass the gliding hawks who try to appear nonchalantly annoyed but not scared of these spitfire-like attacks. Having read that they were tough on the native birds, I once attempted an extermination programme on them but despite a decent cull, it seemed to make little difference to the numbers and I soon tired of the killing. I later read that their nastiness to other species was overstated, so I just went back to accepting them as part of the resident fauna. One might assume that like many other Australian bird species, they had been swept across the Tasman by ferocious gales sometime in the past few thousand years. They are decent fliers. That’s what happened to the ungainly flying pukeko, perhaps 800 years ago. But they were introduced from Australia by Acclimatisation Societies between 1864 and 1874, mainly to control insect pests. When they do tick me off is their territorial attacks at this time
TARGET: Steve Wyn-Harris shares his recent encounter with a swooping magpie on his farm.
of the year during their nesting season. Many of us have had this experience. The cyclists from Waipukurau who ride this way have taken to wearing various paraphernalia on their helmets to help ward off attacks. Little balls bobbing on springs, wires, painted eyes on the back and such. The past three years, what I imagine is the same bird, has divebombed me on the lambing beat, always in the same place. Once you learn to anticipate the attack it’s not so bad, but this fellow clipped me the other day and that’s not on. The next day I took my shotgun but went on the four-wheeler
instead of the usual two-wheeler. It’s the male who does the attack and I know they are less likely to have a decent go if you are looking at him, so I averted my gaze. I couldn’t incite him to attack even though I went backwards and forwards in the usual strafing region. I figured it was the change in the bike so next day I was back on the two-wheeler and sure enough I saw him coming directly from his tree. I quickly stopped and popped two shells in the gun. I didn’t have time to dismount as he was coming like an arrow directly at me. I should point out that I am one of the worst shots I know and don’t shoot ducks for this reason, but also because I don’t enjoy it. But this was life and death or at least self-preservation. I had planned to wait until he swooped up and became a slower moving target, but I think I must have slightly panicked as he showed no sign of doing so. I aimed at this hurtling missile and fired a barrel. His wings immediately stopped beating and he passed a couple of metres over my head and hit the ground dead as a doornail. My only regret was that no one had witnessed this extraordinary feat of gunmanship.
I was interested to hear the following day that the Aussies were reporting strange happenings in what they call the ‘swooping season’. It seems that magpies will target people they see as a threat. They can recognise human faces and research has shown they can identify up to 100 different people. Some people are constantly victimised by the same magpie year after year and others completely left alone. However, with face mask requirements because of the virus, it seems the birds are becoming more agitated as they can neither read faces nor identify the ones they have always considered threats. So, they are now having a go at everyone rather than their usual favourite targets. With a new appreciation of how smart they are with this facial recognition ability going on, next time I’m constantly attacked, I’ll just put up with it as I’ve done in the past. Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle.
Your View Steve Wyn-Harris is a Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer. swyn@xtra.co.nz
