The smallest of the mainstream livestock industries has its hands full dealing with what it will mean for deer farmers when agriculture goes into the scheme, Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) chief executive Dan Coup said.
“Over the next five years it seems inevitable that agriculture will transition into a pricing regime for biological emissions.
“It’s a huge task.
“No other country in the world has attempted it so we need everyone to co-operate.
“Our first challenge is to convince the Government to work with us,” Coup said.
DINZ is working on two levels, both equally urgent – policy development and practical ways to apply the policies on farms.
The proposed flat carbon levy on processors for a transition period will not encourage farmers to look at ways of reducing their emissions or increase their on-farm carbon storage.
It will be seen as yet another tax and make farmers less inclined to co-operate.
“Instead DINZ and the other primary industries are saying, work with us, as outlined in the Primary Sector Climate Change Commitment.
“We need policies that are fair to farmers and practical to apply on an ordinary family farm,” Coup said.
DINZ also sees the methane targets in the Zero Carbon Bill as being unnecessary and unrealistic.
It has made submissions to that effect and is continuing to lobby for changes to the reduction targets for methane of 10% by 2030 and 24-47% by 2050.
“Neither level is achievable because the Bill does not allow for on-farm offsetting. If offsetting is allowed the 2030 target looks reasonable.”
Achieving the 2050 target without destroying the deer industry will require technology that doesn’t yet exist.
From 2020 to 2024 farmers and the Government need to be developing a system that accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and offsets at the level of the individual farm.
That will give farmers the incentive to assess their emissions and find ways to minimise or offset them.
Most farmers, including deer farmers, don’t yet know what their farms are emitting or how to reduce their emissions.
If the Government accepts the livestock sector’s vision and decides to work with it the second major challenge will be making individual farm greenhouse gas accounting actually work, he said.
Providing farmers with good, practical, easy-to-apply information will be essential.
DINZ has engaged AgFirst to look at what management practices four deer farms could apply today to reduce or offset their emissions.
Four classes of deer farm are being looked at including North Island hill country, South Island high country, intensive velvet and intensive venison finishing.
The results will be available in the next couple of weeks for farmers to consider.
The plan is to incorporate the outputs in the review of the deer farming environmental management code of practice.
