The Government’s plan to speed up that process focuses on measurement through farm environment plans, further planting and fencing to limit runoff and exclude stock and limiting land use change.
It’s heavy-handed but Federated Farmers were even more so, saying farmers are being thrown under the tractor. Interestingly, DairyNZ was cautiously supportive in its initial statement while Beef + Lamb reckons its farmers are getting the raw deal. They might have a point. Drystock farmers have made great efficiency strides in recent years, which is great, but puts them at a disadvantage now rates of change are being counted. Newly required riparian plantings will be mostly on the higher country. And those with the most intensive farm systems have the most options when it comes to any future land use change.
The nuts and bolts of the plan are still to be debated and set and hopefully a bit more equity will be achieved before it becomes law. There’s a lot of anxiety out there but remember disruption creates opportunity. For every farmer lamenting an inability to do things how they’ve always been done there’s another looking to springboard off these new rules into a new pool.
In journalism, the first thought is always the reader. In farming, it should be the consumers. What food do they want to eat and how can we as producers deliver it. Farmers can still control their destinies if they choose to, just look at the many New Zealand farmers already producing high-quality and value food within strict limits already. So, fight for a just transition, sure, but know change is a given and the choice to prosper through it is yours.
Bryan Gibson
