If sheep and beef farmers want to have any influence over how future regulations around greenhouse gases (GHG) might hit them in the back pocket, they need to get on board with initiatives aimed at limiting that, a Central Hawke’s Bay farmer says.
Daniel Dooney attended a workshop run by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and Silver Fern Farms that focused on helping farmers get to know the emissions profile of their farm.
The Waipukurau event was one of 59 held around the country during the past fortnight.
The workshops took farmers through a process to ‘know their numbers’ by using B+LNZ’s GHG calculator.
They also provided technical assistance and templates so farmers could develop action plans to manage GHG emissions.
Dooney says he had been interested for a while in seeing how his farm stacked up.
He said using the Beef + Lamb calculator was relatively straight forward.
He says the number arrived at by the end of the process was relatively basic at this stage, but he expects the system will be fine-tuned over time.
However, he says there were advantages to farmers just going through the process.
“Doing the numbers yourself, you start to get your head around things and if it does get more intricate, you’ve got a base knowledge to start with,” he said.
He says although every farm is different, the workshops provided a good opportunity to hear from others about their approaches.
“There’s likes in every farm as well, for instance with trees, types of trees, places where trees are planted and how they affect the farm system,” he said.
“You can definitely learn from other peoples’ experiences.”
He says farmers need to get on board with the idea if they don’t want more government regulations to deal with.
“If we’re not proactive and start to work things out for ourselves the Government is going to come in and take over and probably just put a tax on per kilo of meat produced.
“I’m not sure how fair that would be,” he said.
“With our farm we’ve got native plantings, a lot of willows and poplars for erosion and pine trees.
“But then there’s others who have no trees on their properties sequestering nothing but we’d be paying the same toll, which is a bit unfair.
“I’m keen to stop that from happening if we can.
“If we don’t get into it and get involved I’d hate to see what’s going to happen. We’ll end up with another tax to deal with.
“The more numbers that we can create, the more it will show the Government that we can make it happen.
“I wasn’t really aware just how important it is for us to front-foot this.
“The Government has given us an opportunity, it’s saying ‘get together and see what you can do’.
“I didn’t really realise just how important it is that we do that.”
B+LNZ North Island general manager Corina Jordan says the workshops helped farmers to understand their own ‘why’ in terms of climate response.
“So it really means something to them; whether that’s because they want to build a more resilient business, understand the implications of future policy on-farm, or whether they want to unlock market opportunities and meet the expectations of consumers,” Jordan said.
She says farmers left the workshops knowing their numbers, including carbon sequestration opportunities, and with a written plan to future-proof their farming business.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Simon Limmer says the company was delighted with the high level of farmer interest in the workshops.
“The great thing about the workshop approach is that it focuses on empowering farmers via practical tools and advice to inform the decisions they are making every day to manage their farms,” Limmer said.
“Our ability to proactively respond to climate change and the transition to a low carbon economy will ensure we are aligned with consumer expectations in-market and can deliver best value back through the farm gate.”
Building on the success of these workshops, B+LNZ will hold others in the future for farmers who were unable to make the ones held recently, or who were not SFF suppliers.
Interested farmers should contact their local B+LNZ extension manager for details.
What’s the targets?
To provide an alternative option to agriculture going into the Emissions Trading Scheme, the following targets have to be met:
•By end of 2021, 25% of NZ farmers know their annual total on-farm greenhouse gas emissions and have a written plan in place to measure and manage their emissions
•By the end of 2022, 100% of NZ farmers know their annual total on-farm emissions
•By January 1, 2025, all farmers need to have a plan to monitor and manage their emissions.
