Friday, March 29, 2024

MEATY MATTERS: Idea good but details cause unease

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Sheep and beef farmers are generally in agreement with the principles behind the Ministry for the Environment’s discussion document on the national direction for essential freshwater but there is substantial unease about the finer details. 
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Three key areas of concern identified by Beef + Lamb are restricting farms to current emissions for land use and farm systems, termed grand-parenting, compliance costs well in excess of forecasts and the real potential for sheep and beef farmers to be put out of business.

The sheep and beef sector, as distinct from dairy and other land uses, is particularly vulnerable to these threats because the Government’s proposals penalise those farm types with lower emissions, especially those who have already achieved significant progress in introducing sustainable systems.

Farmers for Positive Change, a group of 3000 drystock and hill country farmers, chairman Rick Burke claims the grand-parenting approach, especially the capping of on-farm nitrate leaching to current levels, completely fails to acknowledge the distinction between heavy and low emitters. 

The F4PC group has pushed back against Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change 1 process, instead proposing a bottom up approach working across sub-catchments. 

Burke, a previous Ballance Farm Environment Award winner, has a farming system completely redesigned over 20 years to incorporate new planting, fencing and rotational grazing, which has entailed slightly higher nitrogen use but resulted in infinitely higher productivity and significantly improved environmental outcomes.

He says sheep and beef farming has an exciting future and farmers are eager to unlock serious profitability while pursuing environmental improvements. 

F4PC is keen to see farmers in each sub-catchment given a fair target to achieve via a series of 10-year milestones out to 2050 but a rushed, one-size-fits all approach has no place in reaching the ultimate goal.

If the Government persists with its top-down model when bringing the Essential Freshwater policy into law it means environmentally sustainable farms will be restricted to the lower levels of nitrogen already achieved than their less diligent neighbours and Burke is adamant some farmers will be driven out of business. 

The net result will be a dramatic hit to land values, which would effectively be, in his words, the theft of natural capital that could well result in affected farmers taking a class action against the Government. 

However, according to Burke, the F4PC group agrees with the principles of the Action for Healthy Waterways and is keen to make the necessary changes to comply with the significant exception of the grand-parenting provisions that would prevent extensive and low-impact farms adjusting their systems.

Releasing the Essential Freshwater discussion document Environment Minister David Parker gave the strong impression of being hell bent on speedy implementation with a short consultation period, since lengthened by two weeks, at the busiest time of the farming year. 

The timetable is driven by the Government’s determination to introduce the new policy early in the New Year, no doubt as a result of it being an election year. 

I have listened to Parker’s comments both on the radio and at a consultation meeting. They give the strong impression of a man on a mission, unlikely to be diverted from his chosen course of action. 

He sounds eminently reasonable when making the point this is a process that will take decades and nothing will come into force before 2025 while emphasising the importance of agriculture to the economy. 

But at no point have I heard any indication he is prepared to listen to farmers’ concerns about intensification and grand-parenting with its dire impact on efficient and sustainable producers. 

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, also sounding totally reasonable, sticks very closely to the party line, repeatedly saying the farmers who are doing the right thing won’t be affected by the proposals while the sheep and beef farmers I have spoken to think it’s the opposite and those who have been doing the right thing will be the most affected.

The sub-catchment approach through regional councils is much more in line with the Auditor General John Ryan’s just released report on Managing Freshwater Quality which said there is not enough information about freshwater at a national level to prioritise efforts on a national basis. 

Ryan recommends the Environment Ministry take the leadership role, working with regional councils and others, presumably unitary authorities, to make the improvements needed to ensure the information is collated and used consistently across the country. 

It will be interesting to see whether Parker recognises the logic of this argument, which can’t be accused of bias, unlike farming groups who will inevitably be tainted by the suspicion of self-interest.

What the Government appears unwilling to recognise if it insists on the blanket approach to the freshwater question is the disproportionate impact on sheep and beef farming. 

Local Government New Zealand’s sector water subgroup published its advisory report on the Essential Freshwater proposal in July and found the cost-effectiveness of nutrient reduction policies is questionable, with other measures such as riparian planting likely to be more effective. 

Modelling done in the Waikato-Waipa catchment found drystock farming land use would decline by 68% and dairy farming by 13% while forestry would increase by 160%, a massive redistribution of resources. 

The annual cost of meeting the revised targets was estimated at $100 million or about 11% of total profits derived from land use in the catchment, let alone the horrific human cost.

The overall message for the Government, especially Parker, is it is preferable to proceed cautiously towards a goal all parties accept as desirable rather than rushing to introduce blunt policy instruments that threaten to destroy one of NZ’s most important sectors. 

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