Topics tagged with 'Agriculture'
Fracking is flying high, but how long can it last?
24 Apr 2014
The fracking industry is the new star on the US energy scene, credited by its backers with bringing down domestic fuel prices and revitalising the US economy. But amid the talk of an energy revolution, there are questions about just how long the fracking boom can last.
By hook or by crook, science is finding new routes to energy
24 Apr 2014
While politicians posture, and climate scientists sigh sadly, researchers in laboratories continue to devise ingenious new ways to save energy, increase efficiency, and make the most of solar power.
Farmers earn environment awards
24 Apr 2014
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards have finished another successful year, with supreme winners from 10 regions recognised for their outstanding contribution to agricultural sustainability.
Scientists question Ruataniwha hearing advice
17 Apr 2014
Serious questions raised in Parliament about the independence of scientific advice in consent hearings from Government scientists are justified, says a key witness in the Ruataniwha dam hearing.
Agriculture gas emissions on the rise, warns UN
17 Apr 2014
Agriculture greenhouse emissions have nearly doubled over the past 50 years and may increase by another 30 per cent by 2050, according to new estimates from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.
We’re on the right track, says Groser
17 Apr 2014
The latest climate crisis report from the United Nations emphasises the need for a truly global agreement in 2015 to ensure efforts to cut greenhouse gases are effective, says Minister for Climate Change Issues Tim Groser
More CO2 could limit plants' protein output
17 Apr 2014
As global temperatures rise, more than one third of the land surface might become more arid.
Maori agribusiness gets $2m boost
17 Apr 2014
Five Mâori agribusiness projects worth more than $2.1 million have been approved by the Government.
Our emissions up ... thanks to cars and cows
11 Apr 2014
New Zealanders’ love affair with cars and cows has pushed our greenhouse gas emissions up by 25 per cent.
How sail is catching up with the fossil-fuel ships
11 Apr 2014
Ship transport is energy efficient, but it is also a significant source of emissions because of the globalised world huge transportation needs. In large measure, these vessels are powered with high-sulphur fossil fuels.
Wooden skyscrapers cool idea in a warming world
11 Apr 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- US scientists have a new green solution to urban construction: chop down trees and use the wood for buildings.
Academic gets funds for drought studies
11 Apr 2014
A Waikato University doctoral student has won a scholarship to investigate the on-going inpacts of drought on dry-land farming.
Profit comes before environment, says Act leader
4 Apr 2014
NEW Act Party leader Jamie Whyte says that businesses have no obligation to the environment.
Biofuels not a lasting solution, warns report
4 Apr 2014
By DOUGLAS CRAWFORD-BROWN.- Biofuels alone are unsustainable, but can still help to combat climate change.
Planners to put 100% Pure under the microscope
28 Mar 2014
CRITICAL issues which threaten New Zealand's 100% Pure positioning will be addressed by planners at a conference in Queenstown next week.
The air that we breathe is killing one person in eight, says new report
28 Mar 2014
AIR POLLUTION killed seven million people across the globe in 2012, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk, according to new figures.
Heat extremes put major crops at risk, say scientists
28 Mar 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- Rampant climate change driven by ever-rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere poses a serious threat to world food supply, according to a new study in Environmental Research Letters.
Hi-tech's a big job and Britain is doing it well
28 Mar 2014
BRITISH hi-tech engineering is more successful than you think, says JIM PLATTS, lecturer in manufacturing engineering at Cambridge University.
California goes nuts for water
28 Mar 2014
WHILE recent rainfall has brought welcome relief to California, the amount of precipitation has not been nearly enough to put an end to what is its worst drought on record. The state’s $45 billion agricultural sector has been particularly hard hit, writes KIERAN COOKE.
Water is the key in a hungry world
21 Mar 2014
Tomorrow is World Water Day. Foodtank president DANIELLE NIERENBERG says that farmers around the world should be looking to colleagues who have come up with innovative ways of using each drop more efficiently.
Not all is well with India’s dam-building boom
21 Mar 2014
By KIERAN COOKE .- India is in the midst of a massive hydro electric dam building programme, necessary, it says, to fuel the energy needs of its fast growing economy.
Why Deutsche Bank built a jungle in Manhattan (complete with anaconda)
21 Mar 2014
By REBECCA ELLIOT.- Journalist McKenzie Funk opens his book, Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming, with a carnival-like scene at a Deutsche Bank road show in February 2008.
Burger chain goes free-range
21 Mar 2014
Home-grown burger chain Burger Fuel says it will use only free-range chicken in its New Zealand outlets.
Canberra outlines new farm opportunities
21 Mar 2014
The Australian Government says it is making it easier for farmers and landholders to be able to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund by storing carbon in their soil, improving farm productivity and contributing to action on climate change.
Scientists raise threat of methane in rivers
21 Mar 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- British scientists have identified yet another twist to the threat of global warming. Any further rises in temperature are likely to accelerate the release of methane from rivers, lakes, deltas, bogs, swamps, marshlands and rice paddy fields.
NZUS bounce of $2.90
17 Mar 2014
Spot NZUs closed at $3.00 Friday after starting the day lower. OMFianncial reports:
Public wary of DOC's new business role
14 Mar 2014
Getting into bed with business could affect the Department of Conservation’s ability to protect New Zealand’s fresh water, the public fears.
Farmers remain free of emissions obligations
14 Mar 2014
The Government is all but ruling out making agriculture responsible for its greenhouse gas emissions next year.
Eight ways to better manage our livestock
14 Mar 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- British and international scientists have proposed eight strategies to make cattle and sheep-farming more sustainable, to make both the animals and people who depend on them healthier, and to reduce the strain on the planet.
Asia-Pacific must boost food supply, says UN
14 Mar 2014
Governments in the Asia-Pacific region – which has more hungry people than all the other regions of the world combined – should take some major decisions about ways to increase food production and address undernourishment, says the United Nations.
Did Genghis Khan ride to world domination on the back of climate change?
14 Mar 2014
Climate change – already implicated in the fall of Bronze Age civilisations in the Mediterranean and in the Indus Valley - may also account for the rise of one of the most fearsome empires in history.
Government says no to national forest policy
7 Mar 2014
The Government is refusing to adopt a national forestry policy, despite relying on tree planting to meet international greenhouse gas emissions reductions obligations.
Europe must get serious about cutting back oil
7 Mar 2014
By ALEX KIRBY, London.- Europe has the technology and the raw material to make a big cut in the amount of oil its transport uses, researchers say - but it will fail to reap the benefits on offer unless the European Union comes up with more radical policies.
Sustainability graduates make their mark
7 Mar 2014
Now in its fourth year, Otago Polytechnic’s Graduate Programmes in Sustainable Practice is providing New Zealand companies, organisations and a variety of projects with graduates qualified in implementing sustainable practice.
Government knows how we can be carbon-neutral
28 Feb 2014
Planting just over half of New Zealand’s marginal land in forest would make the country carbon-neutral – and the Government knows it.
Morgan going to public with water campaign
28 Feb 2014
Businessman, economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan is planning a public campaign over the state of New Zealand’s fresh water.
Taxpaper faces $500,000 bill for lake clean-up
28 Feb 2014
Cleaning up polluted Lake Horowhenua will cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars.
Energy-wise dairy farmers could save millions
28 Feb 2014
Dairy farmers could collectively save $42 million through electricity efficiency measures in the dairy shed, says the Government's energy efficiency agency.
Credibility key selling point for green economy
28 Feb 2014
The idea of the “green economy goes in and out of fashion, not least because it is rarely defined and frequently misunderstood, writes PAUL EKINS, Professor of Resource and Environmental Policy, University College, London.
Livestock diet can cut emissions, says study
28 Feb 2014
By TIM RADFORD.- Here’s a way to make cattle emit lower volumes of methane through their digestive tracts: give the beasts a higher-quality diet.
Scientists crack code for duckweed ... and raise hopes for biofuel
28 Feb 2014
Geneticists have cracked the code for one of nature’s fastest-growing plants: Spirodela polyrhiza, or duckweed - and the pay-off could come with higher deliveries of biofuel at lower cost to cropland farmers.
Angry Maori take carbon case to UN
21 Feb 2014
Frustrated Maori will take their carbon price grievances to the United Nations next week.
Maori ultimatum leaves Government unmoved
14 Feb 2014
The Government appears to be ignoring an ultimatum from Maori to fix carbon prices or face the consequences.
British farmers keen on Kiwi scientist's no-tillage methods
14 Feb 2014
New Zealand soil scientist and no-till drill manufacturer Dr John Baker says his ideas are being picked up in Britain.
Land-use change still attractive
14 Feb 2014
We saw another small rise in NZUs yesterday, up to $3.30. OMFinancial reports:
Angry Maori table $600,000 carbon ultimatum
7 Feb 2014
Maori say they will lodge a $600 million Treaty of Waitangi claim if the Government doesn’t move fast to shore up carbon prices.
New water moves not enough, says commissioner
7 Feb 2014
Current proposals for freshwater management are not adequate for protecting water quality to even current levels in New Zealand, says Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright.
Dilmah founder bankrolls 'green' tea to save the planet
7 Feb 2014
The man who urges Kiwis to “do try it”, Dilmah Tea founder Merrill J. Fernando, has another message, and this one is about caring for the planet.
Major powerco sets pace for fall in emissions
31 Jan 2014
New Zealand's greenhouse-gas emissions from energy have fallen on the back of a massive cut from our single largest emitter.
Think or swim ... that's our climate change choice
31 Jan 2014
Making people think about the impact climate change could have on their homes makes them more likely to take action to prevent it, researchers say.
Fifty years of observations, no reversal of glacier climate damage
Tue 31 Mar 2026
Media release: Earth Sciences New Zealand | Fifty years on from the first aerial survey of our Southern Alps glaciers, late snow and variable summer weather delivered a temporary reprieve from rapid ice loss, says Earth Sciences New Zealand.
$30m airline fund risks ‘burning public money’ without lasting benefit – expert
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | A $30 million government package to support regional air routes risks delivering poor value for money while increasing emissions, according to transport strategist Tim Adriaansen.
Signs of jet fuel hoarding emerge in Asia on Iran oil shock
26 Mar 2026
Signs are growing that Asian countries are hoarding jet fuel after the Iran war sent oil prices surging, reflecting growing strain on the aviation industry.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Air NZ joins Marsden Point SAF project
3 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Air New Zealand has quietly added its name to a consortium exploring the viability of green hydrogen production for sustainable aviation fuel at Channel Infrastructure’s Marsden Point energy hub.
Economic contraction will impact carbon market
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | While higher fossil fuel prices strengthen the long-run economics of decarbonisation, the current fuel crisis won’t inspire near-term confidence in the carbon market, according to Lizzie Chambers of Carbon Match.
Why the real oil crisis hasn’t started yet
Wed 1 Apr 2026
If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed much longer, things will get really bad, really fast.
Carbon price: Ups and downs amid geopolitical uncertainty
26 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | After ups and downs in recent weeks, the carbon market again broke above the $40 mark this week, with questions around how the Middle East conflict will play out weighing on market confidence.
Labour mulls GIDI 2.0 as factory closures mount
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Factory closures across the country could have been prevented if the last Labour-led government’s GIDI fund to assist companies with the cost of electrification hadn't been scrapped, Labour energy spokesperson, Megan Woods, says.
Death toll in Afghanistan flooding increases to 28, authorities say
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Afghan authorities said Monday that the death toll from severe weather that has struck swathes of the country over the past four days has increased to 28, with 49 people injured. Dozens of people have died from extreme weather in the country so far this year.
Sustainable retail-office project breaks ground under new Green Star framework
19 Feb 2026
Construction is set to begin on a new retail-office development in central Auckland, which is targeting a 40% reduction in embodied carbon and 25% lower energy.
Opposition attacks Govt over fossil fuel phaseout backdown
2 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | Revelations that Resources Minister Shane Jones ruled out New Zealand signing up to a 'road map' away from fossil fuels at last year’s global climate summit show the National Party’s minor coalition partners’ undue influence over the Government, according to Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Carbon trading schemes cut more emissions than carbon taxes, according to global study
20 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Carbon trading schemes are more effective than carbon taxes at reducing emissions, cutting fossil fuel use, and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, a global study has found.
‘Even more bonkers now’ – energy expert on LNG terminal
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | An energy consultant says the Government’s plan to back an LNG import facility is a “non-starter” in the face of rising gas prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Environmental groups call for ETS reform
20 Feb 2026
Several environmental organisations are calling on political parties to make climate and biodiversity central to the 2026 election campaign, with reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme seen as a key priority.
Dairy farmers' lack of climate action 'even bleaker' than water inaction – Upton
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Government projections for cutting agricultural emissions are being undermined by low farmer uptake, with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warning the country is relying on “heroic” assumptions to meet its methane targets.
Transport dominates NZ’s rising consumer emissions
10 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Transport pollution was the biggest contributor to an increase in New Zealand’s consumption-based emissions in 2023, with emissions from household travel up 12%, and consumption-based emissions totalling 58.3 million tonnes – up 1.6% from the previous year.
Lawyers complain to ombudsman over Govt failure to release LNG modelling
Wed 1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Lawyers for Climate Action has made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman over the Government’s failure to release information about its controversial decision to build a LNG import terminal.
RMA to speed up fossil fuel consents
18 Aug 2025
By Liz Kivi | An energy lobby group has welcomed a last-minute amendment to the RMA that puts fossil fuels on the same footing as renewables, however a sustainable energy expert says the move “beggars belief.”
FMA to ease conditions for green bond issues
Tue 31 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | Green, social and sustainability-linked bonds will face lower disclosure requirements and regulatory costs under a class exemption newly granted by the Financial Markets Authority.
Tuvalu prioritises climate change in agreement with NZ
Fri 27 Mar 2026
By Liz Kivi | New Zealand has pledged an additional $20 million to climate resilience work in Tuvalu, more than doubling Aotearoa's aid to the tiny island nation in the current financial year.
Five trees can’t offset a car: Lawyers accuse Mazda of greenwashing
9 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Lawyers for Climate Action NZ is taking Mazda to the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that a tree-planting programme will offset vehicle emissions.
Govt missing opportunity to slash electricity prices, says expert
11 Feb 2026
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s fixation on eliminating the "dry-year risk margin" as a lever to reduce costs misses a much bigger opportunity to lower electricity prices, according to Christina Hood, head of Compass Climate.
NZ prepares to join ‘gold rush’ for white hydrogen
25 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand may be close to commercialising the capture and use of naturally occurring ‘white’ hydrogen, with investment plans for developments in the Wairarapa region picking up pace in response to spiralling oil prices.
Media round-up
20 Mar 2026
In our round-up of climate coverage in local media: Crown lawyers agree High Court could quash emissions plan if found unlawful; NZ is locked in 'disaster inertia'; and climate change is notably absent from new development laws.
Climate law change spanner in the works for Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry
19 Dec 2025
By Liz Kivi | The Government’s controversial changes to New Zealand’s legal framework for climate policy have thrown a spanner in the works for a long-running Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry into climate change.
Govt process to change climate plan ‘fundamentally flawed’, says judge
18 Mar 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | The government’s 2024 changes to New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan was “as fundamentally flawed a process as I think I have ever seen”, the judge presiding in a case challenging climate change decision-making has said.
Cleantech expo coming to Auckland
26 Mar 2026
New Zealand’s first national cleantech expo is set to bring together 30 innovators, in what organisers say is the country’s fastest growing area in the tech sector.
NZ First targets regional share of mining royalties
Mon 30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand First has proposed returning 50% of mining royalties to regional communities, saying that too much of the value from resource extraction is currently flowing to Wellington.
NZ's latest climate target 'weak' – Climate Action Tracker
24 Jun 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New Zealand's new international climate target to 2035 is weak, and could even allow for higher emissions than the 2030 target, according to a global scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Worst in a generation: Environmentalists slam fisheries reform bill
25 Mar 2026
Media release: Greenpeace | The Fisheries Amendment Bill, which will likely have its first reading in parliament this week, is being labelled the worst fisheries policy in a generation by environmental groups who are calling for it to be rejected to protect ocean health.
Kiwis overly optimistic about state of environment
27 Feb 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | New research suggests many New Zealanders believe the environment is in better shape than it really is, with public perceptions often out of step with scientific evidence.
‘They pushed so many lies about recycling’: the fight to stop big oil pumping billions more into plastics
24 Feb 2026
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Activists occupy controversial gold drilling site
25 Mar 2026
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter | Opposition in Golden Bay to a controversial gold mine at Sams Creek has flared up over the weekend after several activists briefly occupied a drilling site.
China has a new competitor? Kazakhstan reveals huge rare Earth deposit that could power the next tech boom
25 Feb 2026
China’s grip on rare earths might finally see some competition, and the world is already taking notice.
World-leading plasma torch takes aim at NZ's most potent greenhouse gases
24 Mar 2026
Media release | A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility – signalling a new era in addressing the environmental impact of New Zealand’s most potent greenhouse gases.
DOC trims costs and winds down jobs for nature
10 Nov 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is entering a new phase of tighter budgets and structural change as it winds down the pandemic-era Jobs for Nature programme and reshapes its operations to absorb long-term cost pressures.
Why the Iran war may have just killed the AI boom
26 Mar 2026
The $1.5 trillion in committed AI infrastructure spending by major tech companies is built on an assumption of a functional global supply chain, which the Iran conflict has fundamentally broken.
Pacific climate response in question as NZ finance remains unclear
19 Dec 2025
By Shannon Morris-Williams | With New Zealand's $1.3 billion international climate finance commitment set to end with no clarity on what follows, the Auditor-General says oversight of that funding remains patchy and long-term outcomes are unclear.
Two Australian states offer free public transport as war pushes up fuel prices
Mon 30 Mar 2026
Public transport in two Australian states will be made free to incentivise people not to drive as fuel prices soar due to the war in the Middle East.
Infrastructure plan calls for ‘predictable approach’ to electrifying economy
18 Feb 2026
Aotearoa’s first National Infrastructure Plan, introduced to Parliament yesterday, calls for "a predictable approach to electrifying the economy" as one of ten priorities for the next decade.
‘Stop burning fossil fuels’ pleads scientist as extreme rain causes floods yet again
Fri 27 Mar 2026
Northland and Auckland have again been lashed by heavy rain, with hundreds of people evacuated last night because of extensive flooding in the Far North, and some areas hit by more than a month's average rainfall in just 24 hours.
AI tool predicts wildfire danger faster than current systems
26 Mar 2026
Media release | A wildfire forecasting system powered by artificial intelligence could help detect dangerous fire conditions earlier and reduce the cost of wildfire response, according to new research from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
Record wind output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout
Wed 1 Apr 2026
Record output from wind farms has helped boost total clean power supplies in the United Kingdom to new highs so far in 2026, and allowed power firms to pare use of fossil fuels to multi-year lows.
