Opinion: Remembering the good things of life is a great resolution for 2022, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth writes.
In October this year, New Zealand was ranked eighth of 167 countries in the Legatum Prosperity Index.
Denmark topped the list, followed by Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg and then New Zealand. The UK is thirteenth and Australia sixteenth. The USA is twentieth.
We sometimes forget how good New Zealand is.
Delving deeper, New Zealand was fourth in Social Capital, which measures the strength of personal and social relationships, institutional trust, social norms and civic participation in a country.
We were also fourth in Natural Environment, which assesses the components of the physical environment that have a direct effect on people in their daily lives and changes that might impact the prosperity of future generations – sustainability.
Breaking this category down further, we ranked third in exposure to air pollution, fifth in freshwater and fifteenth in preservation efforts.
But we were eighty-eighth in Emissions (greenhouse gases).
This is because of the number of ruminant animals that we have in the country and our reliance on road transport for people and goods. It is the latter that has increased rapidly over the last few years, almost doubling since 1990. Agricultural emissions have increased by 17 per cent.
The problem for the government in considering how to reduce emissions is that we don't have a good public transport system, we do have good renewable energy, and the economy is highly dependent on ruminant animals.
Despite Covid, primary production (which includes fisheries, horticulture, arable and forestry, as well as animals) has continued to be the number one contributor to the economy.
Tourism, which began to rival dairy, has been devastated, but the agriculture sector has continued.
The Ministry for Primary Industries estimates that the Primary Sector will bring in $50.8 billion dollars in 2021-2022.
The big contributors are dairy (a 10 per cent increase on last year to almost $21 billion) and meat and wool (a 6 per cent increase to $11 billion). These export dollars are vital new money coming into the country as government debt increases due to Covid requirements.
Given all the good things about New Zealand, and the economic dependency on the primary sector, it isn't surprising that farmers and growers are feeling frustrated and confused about what they are being asked to do in terms of reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG) associated with animal agriculture.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth. Photo / Supplied
Repeated life cycle analysis has shown that per unit of product, New Zealand farmers are world leaders in least impact.
As science and technology advances, farmers have been fine-tuning their systems – or as economics change, they have changed land use (to forestry or kiwifruit, for example).
This adaptation is constant. What farmers can't do is simply reduce herd and flock size while staying in business.
There is also frustration about the role of animal methane in the environment.
Again, science is advancing understanding, but while it does so, the Zero Carbon Act and Climate Change Commission recognise the difficulties. New Zealand's world-leading Split Gas Approach allows the weight of methane to be the focus, rather than anything to do with its warming potential.
He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN; a government industry partnership) has been working on how to enable the Split Gas Approach to work on-farm.
The goals are to encourage a decrease in the weight of methane produced, enable all sectors to stay in business and reward change (in the right direction) while not disadvantaging early adopters.
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Dr Jacqueline Rowarth on The Country below:
It is a challenging task and considerable consultation with farmers is under way.
Part of the challenge is reporting. The integration of primary production is considerable and complex.
While dairy beef is relatively well known, other dependencies are less well understood.
Many arable farmers graze dry cows in winter or fatten lambs and cattle that have not been born on their properties. These animals allow weed control and pasture fallow but create methane that arable farmers don't have from crops.
Similarly, integration of deer with beef and sheep (or dairy) enables pasture quality to be maintained. Different animals have different requirements at different times of the year; knowing this, stock classes can be moved appropriately.
Dry animals can be used to clean up poorly grazed pasture, for instance, leaving the milking cows to be fully fed with high-quality grass. Without other stock classes, mechanical mowing becomes the option – but this uses fossil fuel with its own GHG burden.
Another benefit of integration is control of parasite burden, reducing the requirement for chemicals to maintain animal welfare (noting that unlike in other countries, animal antibiotics are not used prophylactically).
This low use is all part of the low impact of New Zealand production animals.
While the work of HWEN continues, New Zealanders can rest assured that farmers and growers are working hard, too, not just in looking after animals and picking fruit and vegetables, but also in adopting environmental mitigation technologies as they become available.
We live in New Zealand, ranking eighth in the world in terms of Prosperity and fourth in Social Impact and Environment. We are prosperous, we like each other, and we live in a beautiful country; we have the data.
Remembering the good things of life is a great resolution for 2022.
- Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, Adjunct Professor Lincoln University, is a farmer-elected director of DairyNZ and Ravensdown. The analysis and conclusions above are her own. jsrowarth@gmail.com
