DairyNZ has announced a three-week climate change roadshow with eight workshops for dairy farmers in regional centres around New Zealand.
"Tackling climate change presents an opportunity for New Zealand to become global leaders in climate conscious agribusiness. We want our farmers and our broader industry to be world leading in climate change mitigation and adaptation," says DairyNZ's senior climate change adviser Milena Scott.
The workshops are a commitment under the Dairy Action for Climate Change, an 18-month long plan to build awareness among the dairy sector of the science behind climate change. This includes the reasons we need to take action to address our sector's greenhouse gas emissions and the current mitigations options available to farmers.
"The first step is education. Farmers need to have a good understanding of climate change in order to recognise why they need to address their emissions alongside other New Zealand businesses and households," says Mrs Scott.
"We want farmers to come out of these workshops understanding how their farm contributes to New Zealand's greenhouse gas profile, and how specific environmental initiatives can improve their farm's broader environmental footprint.