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Opinion
FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – February 14, 2022
EDITORIAL
Paying either way
F
ARMERS and industry groups will be relieved the Government has granted an extension for consultation on agricultural greenhouse gas emission pricing. Covid restrictions have hindered the ability of the team from He Waka Eke Noa to explain the options on the table. The extra month gives farmers time to read, understand and digest the various paths open to them. But the bigger picture is also worth appraising. In Canterbury, arable farmers looking to capitalise on high prices brought about by extreme weather in the northern hemisphere are anxiously waiting for their own brush with weird weather to pass. That unseasonal rain has warded off drought for many this summer, but the trend over time is alarming. A common refrain is that New Zealand’s emissions are miniscule compared to the big polluters of the world. Another states our stable methane emissions are producing no extra warming. But in the past year harvests have drowned in Horowhenua and fruit crops have burst in Central Otago and science tells us these events are going to get more frequent. Isn’t contributing to, or indeed leading, a movement that looks to reverse this extreme trend our only option? To do that we need a system that accurately accounts for emissions and sequestration and provides the appropriate carrots and sticks to move the dial. Farmer input is necessary if that’s to happen. But we need to put aside short-term concerns about balance sheets and focus on the long-term prospects for farming here in NZ and the nations we compete with for customers. Climate disruption in other parts of the world will impact our ability to do business, whether it’s through forced migration, commodity price fluctuations or protectionism. A stable economic system requires a climate that’s stable and as predictable as possible. Farming’s our lifeblood but it’s getting harder to keep pumping out the food we take so much pride in. The weather isn’t standing still, and neither can we.
Bryan Gibson
LETTERS
Support for call to licence agents IT IS very encouraging to see Rural Livestock director John Faulks making the call for stock agents to be licenced. While Faulks makes the assertion that stock agents need to retain their integrity and social licence, the reality is that these are mere platitudes that put a gentle spin on an industry that has had way more than its share of crooks. Reading between the lines, Faulks actually sees an industry with a track record of ripping off dumb farmers because they could. Let’s face it, we as farmers sell our stock through a stock agent never knowing where the stock actually ends up. Let’s ask ourselves just why so many stock agents own (or lease) farms.
Now how are these farms bought and paid for? Not so sure. Then ask how many truck drivers couldn’t drive blindfolded to many of these stock agents’ farms? Farmers have been mercilessly ripped off for years and have either been too dumb or lacked the balls to do anything about it. This is a dodgy industry that is possibly about to be cleaned up from the inside. Faulks is to be vigorously supported and strongly congratulated. John Barrow Dannevirke
Time to rethink Nait scheme THE problem with the Nait scheme is you have the
wrong people collecting the information. The only way you will get cost effective accuracy is to have scanners on the back of the 2000 trucks that transport stock, not trying to rely on 20,000 farmers who became farmers because they didn’t want to be accountants or office workers. Every cow, bull or deer is scanned on the way into the truck – the truckie enters a property ID; every cow bull or deer is scanned on the way out – truckie enters a property ID. The scanner automatically downloads at sale yards or freezing works via WiFi/ Bluetooth. Real-time, up-to-date data, collected simply, accurately and cheaply. I, like most farmers, don’t support growing an
unworkable, untimely bureaucracy. Or enforcing the unenforceable. We introduced Nait to serve our needs for accurate, timely traceability. Now we are being asked to merely serve Nait’s needs. Nait needs a complete rethink, there has to be a better way. Dave Stanton Geraldine
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