Topics tagged with 'Agriculture'

Denmark will be the first country to impose a carbon tax on farms
26 Jun 2024
Denmark, a major pork and dairy exporter, will introduce a tax on livestock carbon dioxide emissions from 2030, making it the first country to do so and hoping to inspire others to follow.

Expert slams govt delay in pricing agricultural emissions
12 Jun 2024
The coalition government has reaffirmed greenhouse gases from agriculture won’t be covered in the Emissions Trading Scheme and Cabinet is disestablishing primary sector climate action partnership He Waka Eke Noa.

Climate announcements coming to Fieldays?
11 Jun 2024
Farmers and the wider agricultural sector gathering at Fieldays this week make the event a likely venue for rolling out environment and climate change policy.

‘No additional warming’ for methane target - but relative to when, asks expert?
7 Jun 2024
Advocates of the government’s methane review will probably be disappointed to learn that aligning the target with “no additional warming” might not give farmers the green light to relax about their methane emissions.

No "silver bullet" for methane reduction on dairy farms, but...
7 Jun 2024
Media release | Last week, Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, the regional development agency for Taranaki, hosted Mooving on Methane.

Budget prioritises adaptation over emissions reductions
31 May 2024
The government is prioritising stop banks and floodwalls over initiatives to reduce emissions, with the $1.2bn Regional Infrastructure Fund to focus on climate resilience efforts, while hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for conservation efforts has been cut.

Environment commissioner calls for separate ETS for methane
23 May 2024
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has again called for forestry to be phased out of the Emissions Trading Scheme and is calling for a separate ETS for methane.

Farms could be the backbone of Aotearoa’s renewable energy future
17 May 2024
If each of New Zealand’s 50,000 farms installed a midsize solar array they would generate about two-thirds of the country’s current electricity needs.

AgriZeroNZ invests $9.9M in US company in race for ‘holy grail’ methane vaccine
13 May 2024
Media release | AgriZeroNZ, the joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for Kiwi farmers, is doubling down on efforts to deliver a methane vaccine with an investment in US ag-biotech start-up, ArkeaBio.

Govt looking at policy to restrict forestry in the ETS: Watts
7 May 2024
By Liz Kivi | The government is looking at complementary policies around land use to restrict forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme, rather than making changes directly to the scheme.

Kiwi company aims to make alternative protein from carbon emissions
6 May 2024
A New Zealand-based start-up has raised $1 million towards commercialising production of an alternative protein made with carbon emissions.

Fast-track Approvals Bill ‘serious risk’ to NZ exporters: Environmental Defence Society
29 Apr 2024
Exporters should be ‘deeply concerned’ that the Fast-track Approvals Bill has not been assessed for consistency with any of New Zealand’s free trade agreements, according to the Environmental Defence Society.

Is a storm brewing for NZ dairy production?
22 Apr 2024
By Nick Swallow | OPINION: Animal proteins make up 40% of New Zealand’s exports. So why aren’t we talking about alternative proteins, which look set to disrupt the dairy industry along with a major source of our country’s wealth?

Emissions down for 2022
18 Apr 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions fell by 4% in 2022, according to new figures.

Agriculture needs innovation to stay open for business
18 Apr 2024
Media release | The agricultural sector is facing a crisis, with forecasts for registering innovative animal and crop health products hitting an all-time low.

Highly productive land decreasing as agricultural land use intensifies, carbon forestry set to increase
17 Apr 2024
The latest environmental report outlines the pressure on land and soil from changes in use and invasive species.

Commission’s advice ‘not gospel’ - Willis
12 Apr 2024
The finance minister and associate Climate Change minister told a business gathering that the Climate Change Commission is not “a deity” and its Emissions Trading Scheme advice was “not gospel”.

Emissions Trading Scheme underperforming - study
12 Apr 2024
Media release | The impact of Aotearoa’s main tool in the fight against climate change could be heightened if five sectors were better regulated, according to a new study.

Additional $18 million to reduce agricultural emissions
10 Apr 2024
The government and businesses are committing an additional $18 million to a public-private joint venture to reduce agricultural emissions.

Net zero emissions target may need strengthening: Climate Change Commission
9 Apr 2024
By Jeremy Rose | New Zealand’s current Net Zero 2050 emissions reduction target may need to be strengthened, the Climate Change Commission says in a discussion document released yesterday.

Commission rejects basis for review of methane targets - but methane vaccines could be good news for ag sector
9 Apr 2024
The Climate Change Commission has rejected the basis of a new, separate review of Aotearoa’s methane target in its advice released yesterday.

Govt review of methane targets controversial with experts
8 Apr 2024
The government’s plan for an independent review of agricultural methane targets consistent with no additional warming represents “dangerous thinking” according to an expert.

New govt plan falls short on climate action
3 Apr 2024
The Green Party has slammed the government’s new 36-point action plan for ignoring the climate crisis.

Minister maps out RMA reform
26 Mar 2024
The government is planning several ‘quick fixes’ to the Resource Management Act before a full reform which it intends to complete in this term of Parliament.

Edict by press release a ‘misunderstanding’
19 Mar 2024
A rather bumbling attempt to govern by press release edict has resulted in a backdown which leaves many councils confused about how they should proceed when it comes to aspects of environmental and planning law.

Livestock industry co-opts academics to downplay its climate impact, study says
12 Mar 2024
Academic centres at UC Davis and Colorado State University have accepted big donations from the livestock industry, according to a new study of the industry’s influence on climate research and policy.

RBNZ signals banks must account for climate risk
7 Mar 2024
The Reserve Bank says financial institutions need to understand and manage climate-related risks - and it highlights agriculture as a risky sector.

Fonterra launches new carbon tool
6 Mar 2024
In a move it says is an industry first, Fonterra has launched a tool to help customers access the emissions profile of individual products.

Environmental Defence Society says "radical anti-environment government" could harm NZ's reputation
27 Feb 2024
The Environmental Defence Society says the government’s environmental policies could cause environmental harm as well as threaten New Zealand’s international reputation.

Danish farmers must cut production to achieve climate goal, says government advisor
22 Feb 2024
Denmark’s farmers must reduce production by as much as one-fifth by 2030 if the country is to achieve its ambitious climate goals, a government-commissioned group said.

Climate finance is targeting the wrong industries
14 Feb 2024
Roughly half of the world’s emissions currently can’t be reduced, yet green investment continues to avoid the sectors that need the most help—manufacturing, agriculture, and built environment.

The climate denial network behind ‘classic astroturf’ farmers’ campaign
12 Feb 2024
Producers say ‘No Farmers, No Food’ is a populist initiative that serves to “whip up indignation and anger”.

Extreme weather a critical concern for the next decade of farming, experts say
7 Feb 2024
Media Release | Climate change, extreme weather events and water quality are considered the three biggest challenges likely to affect agriculture in Aotearoa for the next 10 years, according to primary industry experts.

Facing farm protests, EU eases demands in 2040 climate proposal
7 Feb 2024
The EU executive dropped specific references to agriculture emissions cuts as farmers protest across Europe.

Research undermines claims that soil carbon can offset livestock emissions
5 Feb 2024
Study is “a nail in the coffin” for the idea that the global ruminant sector can be climate positive at its current scale.

Best by the rest...
2 Feb 2024
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: Watts says government ‘strongly committed’ to emissions targets; what climate scenario should we plan for?; and sediment runoff from the land is killing NZ’s seas.

Pre-pesticides, pro-farmer: the rise of agroecology
26 Jan 2024
One part ancient practices, one part worker justice, a new-old way of farming is adapting agriculture for an uncertain world.

Agri-focused board game for NCEA students
20 Dec 2023
A new board game for NCEA students is aimed at attracting young farmers to the industry.

Climate Change Commission doubles down on ETS criticism
13 Dec 2023
The Climate Change Commission has doubled-down on its long held view that the ETS is not fit for purpose when it comes to driving down emissions, in its latest advice to government.

Urine sensors for cattle to reduce nitrogen loss
11 Dec 2023
Media release | It’s a 'wee' issue but with a big environmental impact; and a new award-winning technology developed by AgResearch may help farmers to address it.

NZ signs sustainable agriculture declaration
5 Dec 2023
New Zealand was one of 134 countries at Dubai’s COP28 UN climate summit to sign the COP28 “UAE declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action”.

We’re burning too much fossil fuel to fix by planting trees – making ‘net zero’ emissions impossible with offsets
20 Nov 2023
By Mike Joy | The idea that we can mitigate current carbon emissions by “offsetting” them with carbon reduction initiatives elsewhere has become central to government and business responses to climate change. But it’s an idea we need to seriously question.

Fonterra announces 30% on-farm emissions reduction target
10 Nov 2023
Fonterra has announced it is targeting a 30% intensity reduction in on-farm emissions by 2030 from a 2018 baseline.

Climate protestors target dairy, fertiliser, and gas
7 Nov 2023
Climate activists blockaded three targets simultaneously on Sunday - the Whareroa Fonterra Dairy factory, the Kapuni Ballance fertiliser factory, and Todd Energy’s gas plant.

New tech to boost emissions reduction effort
6 Nov 2023
Media release | Ground-breaking new portable technology to measure methane emissions from cattle “on farm” will bolster efforts to reduce the climate change impact from livestock in New Zealand and overseas.

Best by the rest...
27 Oct 2023
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: Is a $90m project to cool cow burps working? an East Coast leader argues that indigenous reforestation is a Treaty right; and MetService defends its inability to forecast the extreme rainfall that led to Auckland’s deadly floods.

Proposal to include non-forestry land in NDC calculation
25 Oct 2023
By Jeremy Rose | A Cabinet minute from July of this year agreed in principle to include non-forest land in New Zealand’s nationally determined contribution.

AgriZeroNZ appoints Wayne McNee as chief executive
25 Oct 2023
Media release | AgriZeroNZ, the public-private joint venture helping farmers reduce their emissions, has appointed Wayne McNee as its chief executive.

Govt defends new charges for forestry in ETS
3 Oct 2023
The government is defending new charges in the Emissions Trading Scheme, which foresters say will discourage planting, and some say could be open to legal challenges.

Programme turns slash into cash
3 Oct 2023
Media release - An Edmund Hillary Fellow and Social Entrepreneur from Botswana has teamed up with EIT | Te Pukenga to help the Tairāwhiti and Wairoa communities eliminate slash and create business opportunities.