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5 Farmlands marks return to profit Vol 20 No 43, November 7, 2022
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Member anger fuels Feds fire Neal Wallace
NEWS
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He Waka Eke Noa
RACKS are appearing in the He Waka Eke Noa partnership, with Federated Farmers intending to take a more confrontational approach with the government over the way it proposes to price agricultural emissions. The federation’s national council has endorsed a recommendation that the organisation resists two of the government’s measures: methane reduction targets and the risk of carbon leakage. Feds president Andrew Hoggard said the organisation has not left He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) but intends to make its own submission on the government response to the partnership’s proposal, which he promises will be combative. Hoggard said the federation will endorse the elements of the HWEN submission it supports but doubts its logo will appear on the HWEN submission. He said his organisation needs room to reflect members’ demands for stronger opposition to the proposal. “We can’t sign up farmers knowing all the pain they will suffer in the hope a silver bullet will come along or the government
will ignore what it wants to put in place,” he said. “We can’t accept that they put out a document that said 20% of sheep and beef farmers will be put out of business so they can meet a target.” In a further sign of a hardening of attitudes towards the government’s response to HWEN, DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel didn’t pull any punches in a social media post last week. “We have been quite clear that no deal is better than a bad deal,” he said on Twitter. “We cannot be part of something that has a high likelihood of undermining all farmers, growers and rural communities and is ultimately bad for NZ.” Hoggard said the federation wants the government to review its methane targets, saying they should be linked to what is required to ensure there is no additional atmospheric warming. “We want to see targets that are based on science, not plucked out of the air are these were.” The government targets are for a 10% reduction below 2017 levels by 2030 and 24-47% lower than 2017 levels by 2050. Hoggard said to endorse those targets without mitigation options would push farmers out of business and lead to emissions leakage with animal protein Continued page 3
Farmers count benefits after E350 ends During the E350 programme Waipu dairy farmer Lachie Maclean expanded his business enough to be able to step back and semi-retire.
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Businesses unite to tackle NZ food waste Otago University Associate Professor Miranda Mirosa says tackling food waste makes good business sense – for every $1 invested in reducing food waste, there can be a return of $14.
NEWS 14 The anger was palpable and the discussion varied but 100 farmers in Gore agreed on their disdain for proposed agri GHG policies.
Trade Minister Damien O’Connor defends the time he is taking to decide on a legal challenge to protectionist Canadian dairy policies.
Brook Cushion gunned for more than the bid when he took up the gavel in the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneer competition 2022.
NEWS 8
MARKETS 12
PEOPLE 28
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