Primary sector climate change commitment

Undated, but perhaps mid to late 19th century.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand today issued an Update to Farmers about Climate Change and Water, including their Announcement on Agricultural Emissions.

Today we have reached agreement with the government on establishing a farm level approach to reducing agricultural emissions.

This is an historic moment, and one that overall we are pleased about.

The government had been considering introducing a price on emissions at the processor level through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2021, which would in effect have been a blunt tax on farmers and would not have incentivised or rewarded farmers who are already doing the right thing.

The government has instead agreed to the alternative partnership approach published by 11 agricultural organisations¹ in July 2019, called He Waka Eke Noa. While the approach agreed with the government will involve establishing a price on agricultural emissions by 2025, crucially this will not happen through the ETS and will happen at the farm gate.

The agreement today provides us with a pathway to work with the government to develop the most appropriate pricing mechanism possible for agriculture by 2025.  It will involve the establishment of a farm level emissions budget, lead to farmers paying for emissions fairly based on their own circumstances, and enable them to count their offsets such as from trees on their farms.

New Zealand is the first country to price agricultural emissions, and through this agreement, our sector has a shot at designing this system to ensure that it is fair for farmers.  By working with the government, we will also be able to establish an approach that reflects methane being a short-lived gas, and which recognises sequestration.

Commentary

The ‘alternative partnership approach’ described by a statement in He Waka Eke Noa, though long and obscure, appears to consist of nothing more than allowing Maoris to join the long-established arrangement between the primary sector and the government. The document, produced by 11 agricultural organisations, in a strange statement on page 6, claims this is new:

Achieving enduring progress towards the goals of mitigating agricultural emissions and building resilience of our primary sectors requires a genuine partnership between the primary sector, iwi/Māori and the government. This approach represents a departure from the past practice in this sector and requires us to forge new ground but we are strongly committed to making this work.

But Maoris have been farming here  for a long time before and after colonisation. The statement, apart from failing to explain why it’s necessary to consult Maoris on farming practice, claims a silk purse of perfection from a pig’s ear of imaginary improvement. Allowing Maoris a voice is little change on a century or two of practice. The rest of the climate change commitment consists of twelve pages of wall-to-wall waffle that’s impossible to penetrate and includes unmistakable breast-beating of do-gooders who blame their ancestors for the crime of introducing an advanced western civilisation and its knowledge and prosperity to a stone-age culture lacking writing, wheels, metallurgy and any concept of nation. A culture that fought, killed and enslaved each other, even valued the eating of enemies. By any standard, we civilised them and the best of the Maoris were grateful.

In fact, they pleaded to become subjects of the far-away Queen Victoria, yet now the do-gooders claim they were promised an unspecified ‘partnership’ and continue to offer them more and more privileges far above what the rest of us command.

It must end. Make them equal.

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1. Apiculture NZ, FOMA, Beef & Lamb NZ, FAR, Dairy NZ, Federated Farmers of NZ, Horticulture NZ, Dairy Companies Association of NZ, Irrigation NZ, Deer Industry NZ and Meat Industry Association.