New Conservative has offered congratulations and commiserations to New Zealand's primary producers, "those who make us a prosperous country, those on whom we depend in times of economic hardship, those who toil seven days a week, almost every day of the year - our farmers."
Spokesman Bruce Welsh said they deserved congratulations given AgResearch's findings that New Zealand dairy farmers had the world's lowest carbon footprint, half the emissions of other international dairy producers, with an on-farm carbon footprint 46 per cent less than the average of 18 countries studied (Northland Age February 2).
"Our farmers need applauding for their efforts and achievements, and should be hailed as the world leaders they are, but in the past few days our government has once again turned them from heroes into villains and victims by demanding that they reduce stock levels by 15 per cent over the coming years to do their bit to reduce our carbon footprint as a nation," Welsh said.
"New Zealand greenhouse gas emissions have been relatively unchanged since 2005. In 2018, New Zealand's gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 78.9 million tonnes of CO2-e, 24 per cent higher than in 1990. During the same period, (agricultural) methane emissions increased just 8 per cent, reaching their peak in 2005 and reducing by 2.7 per cent since then. Clearly our farmers are getting a raw deal here, and are being made victims by the current government and a voiceless opposition.
"And if the uptake of carbon by agriculture (trees and grass on farms) was taken into consideration, we could well see that our dairy farmers, in particular, are carbon-neutral.
