Farmers Concerned Over Emissions Trading

The President of Federated Farmers, Charlie Pedersen says he is concerned for the future of farming and rural communities under the government’s plans to pursue a path of carbon neutrality and compliance with emissions reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr Pedersen’s comments come as the Federation appeared earlier today before the Finance and Expenditure select committee currently considering the Climate Change (Emissions Trading & Renewable Preference) Bill.

The Finance and Expenditure Committee was told that the Federation wants a climate change policy that is practical, cost effective and allows New Zealand farming to remain economically-viable and internationally competitive.

“As it stands the emissions trading scheme poses a huge economic burden on the main driver of our economy – namely agriculture, which earns the bulk of the nations export dollars.

“Analysis produced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research raises huge concerns about the practicality of the proposals. These figures show that some sections of New Zealand’s food producing sector would simply be unviable,” said Mr Pedersen.

Mr Pedersen says in addition to the direct impacts of the scheme on agriculture, higher costs of fuel and energy will also add to the problems of New Zealand farmers.

“New Zealand is well placed to argue that its agricultural products are some of the most emission-efficient produced in the world. This isn’t something we should be ignoring, when doing so only creates greater demand for less-efficient product from countries other than New Zealand,” Mr Pedersen said.