Taranaki farmers are pleased the government's proposed law change to keep agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme has passed its first reading. File photo. Photo: David Hancock
The government's decision to delay pricing agricultural emissions and scrap the sector-led He Waka Eke Noa - Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership - initiative has been welcomed by Taranaki farmers.
They say being forced into the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2025 risked bankrupting farmers and they will now have more time to prepare for the pricing of agricultural emissions sometime before 2030.
At a regional council drop-in event at Inglewood to discuss targets for its new Taranaki Land and Freshwater Plan, the ETS was also front of mind.
Beef farmer John McKye. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
John McKye farmed beefstock east of Inglewood, and reckoned it wasn't the right time to begin pricing agricultural emissions.
"Things are tight right now for farmers. It would've bankrupt some of them. I think it would've anyway although I'd probably be all right.
"And I had a read of what it was and you had to have about three or four different people that it had to go through to make sure your plan was right.
"And at one stage it was going to cost $5000 to get some expert - and I don't know where they were going to get this expert - to tell you you were on the right track."
McKye said the solution to the emissions riddle was unclear.
"It's in science, it's in things you can do yourself. So we've put solar panels on our roof and we feedback to the grid. We don't have a battery we feedback to the grid.
"So that helps New Zealand and also cuts the emissions down, but I've heard that solar panels they cost more in emissions to make than you'll ever save in emissions, so I'm buggered if I know at the end of the day."
The government has said it would invest $400 million over the next four years to accelerate the commercialisation of tools and technology to reduce on-farm emissions.
That would involve the development of a methane vaccine, breeding lower emissions cattle; and accelerating work on methane and nitrous oxide inhibitors.
Dairy farmers Rex and Janice Carroll. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Janice Carroll farmed 400 dairy cows on the Taranaki ring plain with husband Rex.
She did not believe farmers should be paying for emissions.
"My opinion is that a lot of the information is a lot of theory and I don't see it backed up sufficiently for my liking with scientific information around it that we can rely on."
Janice Carroll was not a fan of gene manipulation-based solutions either.
"I always feel a little suspicious of gene manipulation myself. I just feel that that's not a natural way to go and I'd rather stay with the way nature's planned things actually."
She believed reducing stock numbers could play a role in reducing emissions and farmers had to be honest about what their land could manage.
Lepperton dairy farmer Mark Hooper. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Lepperton dairy farmer and Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper was also at the Inglewood event.
He said agriculture had not been withdrawn from the ETS, rather the backstop for its inclusion in 2025 had been removed because it did not work for short-lived gases.
"And the same problem applied with He Waka Eke Noa and the reason that fell over was because if you set the pricing in that to achieve the those current legislated gross methane reductions targets it has a massive negative economic impact on our economy, on our sector and that's the main reason that imploded.
"So, the government has recognised that and said actually we need to rethink our approach to pricing altogether.
"And so neither of those functions actually worked and so all they've done is put them to bed in one sense and said we need to reopen the conversation and look at this from a different approach."
He Waka Eke Noa was set to be replaced by a new Pastoral Sector Group.
The Green Party meanwhile has accused the government kicking climate change action down the road by removing agricultural emissions from the ETS
Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said climate delay was the new climate denial.
"The announcement from the government that it will shred progress on agricultural emissions pricing is just the latest episode of disregard for our climate and environment.
"Meanwhile, farmers on the ground are among those hit the first and worst by climate change."
