Dec 20, 2024
The Government has fulfilled its election promise to remove agriculture from the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), while also introducing new rules to limit farm-to-forestry conversions entering the scheme.
The government has unveiled its Second Emissions Reduction Plan, which involves introducing agricultural emissions pricing by 2030 and incentivising the uptake of new technologies. Within this plan, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts advises that understanding the funding and financing landscape is critical in New Zealand’s climate change response. A key action includes investigating the potential of a biodiversity credits market and cooperating with Australia to ensure policies are economically sustainable.
In the new year, the newly minted Pastoral Sector Group will sit for the first time as they look to address biogenic methane. Agriculture Minister Todd McClay advises the Government is looking to meet climate obligations without harming local farms. The Government will work directly with DINZ and other pastoral sectors groups, such as DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand, to come up with ways forward.
Key rule changes impacting farmers include:
- A freeze on exotic forestry conversations for Land Use Classification (LUC) 1-5 land.
- An annual registration cap of 15,000 hectares for exotic forestry registrations on LUC 6 farmland.
- Allowing up to 25% of a farm’s LUC 1-6 land to be planted in forestry for the ETS, ensuring farmers retain flexibility and choice.
- The ability for landowners to have their LUC categorisation reassessed at the property level.
Overall, DINZ supports the rules allowing farmers to retain flexibility and choice over what they can and can’t do on their land. New rules were needed to protect productive land from carbon farming. We are happy the government has listened to our feedback while still providing flexibility to farmers to diversify their business portfolio, such as allowing up to 25% of LUC 1-6 land to be planted into ETS-eligible forestry.
DINZ Environmental Stewardship Manager Luka Jansen
Last week, Luka Jansen, DINZ environmental stewardship manager, attended the New Zealand Agriculture and Climate Change Conference 2024 in Wellington. Her overall reflection of the conference was that many presentations lacked a good understanding of how things will play out on the ground.
Companies are relying on desktop modeling to predict farmer uptake of emission tools that include methane reduction boluses, methane vaccines and feed additives. Jansen considers that talking about such mitigations amongst climate change scientists, commercial companies and policy makers is the easy room.
Richard Eckard, from the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre at the University of Melbourne, talked about the opportunities and challenges for methane inhibitors in grazing systems at the conference. The discussion highlighted that Australia is leading the way in working alongside farmers and getting the balance right. He advised that such mitigations, like a vaccine, will not be implemented any time soon in Australia.
He further noted that it’s not just about increasing productivity and efficiency on-farm, as emission targets are co-dependent on other matters. Governments must understand the economic implications of their climate change plans. Jansen agrees there is a lack of understanding of farming business models in New Zealand.
Emma Crutchley, of Puketoi Station in the Maniototo, Central Otago, emphasised in her presentation on “Mitigation in Action” that sustainability and economic viability can vary significantly between farms. She highlighted the importance of the government listening to farmers and meeting them where they are at. Crutchley believes that farmer-led solutions are crucial to maintaining profitability.
Jansen agrees with Crutchley’s points and notes, “At the end of the day, what is sustainable, or economically viable, on one farm, may not be on another.
“The government must focus on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ before implementing short-term policy solutions that may not be effective on the ground. Understanding these aspects is essential for creating policies that truly address climate change goals.”
DINZ is continuing to develop a Climate Change Strategy in collaboration with deer farmers and processors, including a focus on extreme weather event resilience for farmers.
