New Zealand: Agriculture
Get soil recognised as carbon storer, say scientists
21 May 2008
Scientists working on quantifying the carbon-storage potential of New Zealand soils are urging officials to start work now on getting soil recognised in the next round of climate-change protocols.
Fed Farmers pushes to have soil carbon sequestration included in ETS
20 May 2008
Federated Farmers is calling for a greater push toward getting soil recognised as a legitimate method of storing greenhouse gases, saying that it would be a boon to farmers struggling to deal with emission from animals.
Worried farmers: We want to be part of the ETS
19 May 2008
Farmers want to do their bit and be part of the emissions trading scheme, says Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen.
Dairy operator eyes $75m loss without forestry offset scheme
12 May 2008
The emissions trading scheme could cost the owners of one of New Zealand’s biggest dairy conversions $75 million and see prime pastoral farmland remain locked-up in plantation forest unless a forestry offset scheme is introduced.
Celebrity chef could cook up a storm for our food exporters
12 May 2008
Suggestions by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay that British restaurants should be fined for having imported food on their menus are a sign of the misguided Northern Hemisphere perception of the environmental impact of the international food trade, and are potentially damaging to New Zealand, says Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock.
Exporter: Food miles ploy major threat to UK halal meat trade
2 May 2008
Meat exporter Dr Haj Mohamed Samy Abdel-Al believes that the food miles syndrome underpins criticism in Britain of halal foods from New Zealand.
Are our cattle killing the orangutan?
1 May 2008
Greenpeace is accusing the dairy sector of environmental irresponsibility after the Green Party revealed the sector is contributing to tropical rainforest destruction by importing huge quantities of palm kernel for cattle feed.
Champion farmers: We have to think differently
28 Apr 2008
Award-winning Far North farmers Lindsay and Erica Whyte say that there are many things that New Zealand farmers can do to improve their farms’ environmental impact – it’s just a case of starting to think differently.
City waste handy down on the farm
28 Apr 2008
A plan is being hatched to turn Auckland’s green-waste into valuable farm mulch.
NZ expert questions US praise of feedlot cattle
24 Apr 2008
An American claim that feedlot cattle are one answer for a world struggling with climate change has been challenged by a leading New Zealand environmentalist.
Carbon storage in soil being researched: Major benefits possible for landowners
23 Apr 2008
A new move to store carbon in New Zealand soil is being formally researched and could be worth hundreds of millions to New Zealand farmers and other landowners.
Farming leadership criticised: industry at enormous risk
22 Apr 2008
New Zealand’s former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment is calling for a radical rethink of our farming sector in the face of potential famine from climate change and world shortages of food, water and good-quality soils.
Climate change 'a problem for now'
22 Apr 2008
New Zealanders in the primary production sector believe that climate change is an urgent problem which needs addressing now.
Kiwis dither while Aussie farmers pounce on carbon-trading scheme
22 Apr 2008
While New Zealand farming leaders openly question the existence of climate change, Australian landowners are queueing to join a national carbon-trading programme.
Farm leaders, Agriculture Minister trade words on impact of ETS
21 Apr 2008
A row is brewing over the extent of the impact on farming of the proposed emissions trading scheme.
Farmer leadership slips back into attack on climate change science
21 Apr 2008
Federated Farmers wants the “religion” of climate changed reassessed before an emissions trading scheme is brought in, a stance which has failed to impress the Minister of Agriculture.
MAF report prompts call to include agriculture in ETS "now"
16 Apr 2008
The Sustainability Council says MAF’s report on the effects of the ETS on farm profits shows there’s no justification for delaying agriculture’s inclusion in the scheme.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Surprise' MAF report shows some farms will profit from ETS
14 Apr 2008
Already well-off dairy farmers could get a 30 per cent profit boost from the ETS, according to an apparently prematurely released Government report.
FEATURE: NZ's biggest coprorate dairy venture putting water quality first
9 Apr 2008
A corporate farmer and regional planning authorities take a practical approach to large-scale forestry replacement.
Greens won't back off ban on new thermal baseload power
2 Apr 2008
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has told Carbon News she will not back off a proposed 10 year ban on new baseload thermal power generation.
Nitrification inhibitors critical to clean dairying
19 Mar 2008
If every one of the country’s 5000-odd dairy farmers were to spray their pastures with Ravensdown’s Eco-N, nitrous oxide emissions from all of New Zealand’s pastoral farming would be cut to below 1990 levels, the company says.
Agricultural emission rumours discounted
16 Mar 2008
Rumours of a massive under-estimation of the level of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted by agriculture in New Zealand appear to be unfounded, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) suggesting 50ha of exotic plantation will be enough to offset the emissions of a 500ha hill-country farm.
Rabobank's annual Ag report: fine balance needed on climate change
12 Mar 2008
Given New Zealand’s exposure to global agricultural commodity markets, any loss of international competitiveness as a result of the new scheme would be damaging, according to report co-author and Rabobank head of Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory, Bill Cordingley.
Legal experts sue Climate minister over ‘glaring holes’ in climate plan
Wed 11 Jun 2025
By Liz Kivi | Legal experts are taking the government to court over its Emissions Reduction Plan, alleging it fails to fulfil basic requirements of the law – with one of the arguments focussing on an over-reliance on tree-planting.
Electric firebricks: decarbonising high-temperature industrial heat
Fri 13 Jun 2025
By Ian Mason | A new technology could offer a more cost-effective solution than hydrogen to decarbonise one ‘hard-to-abate’ sector of New Zealand’s economy, as well as having ample potential for demand response as the electricity grid becomes more renewable.
Tech alone won’t save us, warns climate expert
4 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Technology alone won't be enough to reach net zero emissions, environmental psychologist Lorraine Whitmarsh told the Carbon and Energy Professionals conference in Auckland last week.
“It’s not the car – it’s how we move” – EECA
3 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams| New Zealand’s transport emissions conversation has focused heavily on electric vehicles – but Richard Briggs, group manager, delivery and partnerships at the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, says we’re asking the wrong question.
Forestry consents and relaxed rules in erosion zones sow seeds of future disaster
Fri 13 Jun 2025
OPINION: The government’s move to restrict exotic forestry on our best food-growing soils will push even more forestry investment onto high erosion risk land on the East Coast, with the worst land becoming the only land left for the most intensive and destructive land use, writes Manu Caddie
Kiwi cleantech companies on the world stage
27 May 2025
Six New Zealand 'cleantech' companies were in Singapore earlier this month, along with a venture capital firm and the MacDiarmid Institute, to meet investors and multinational partners.
