Analysis

New Zealand’s world-first plan to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is on track the latest technical data shows, says Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two years ago the Government, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand and industry partners made a bold decision to go hard and commit to a 10-year, $880 million programme to eradicate M. bovis to protect our most important sector and the economy. “Recent events have shown what an important moment this decision was for our economy. “Had we thrown up our hands and said ‘it’s too hard’ and left this disease to run rampant, I’m not sure our dairy and beef sectors would have been able to weather the economic storm of Covid-19 and the challenges of drought conditions as well as they have. “Beef and dairy export prices have held up. In fact, there was record demand for our meat. In March total red meat monthly exports topped $1 billion for the first time. This shows that these sectors are well-placed to lead us out of this economic crisis. “As we have with our response to COVID-19, this Government showed leadership, made a tough decision and have managed this eradication effort with discipline and focus, because we knew we were doing it for the economic and social good of the country. “We’ve also shown, again, that we’re able to do what others countries have not in terms of disease eradication efforts. That’s something our farming community should be really proud of. I’m certainly very proud of them. “One key measure of success, the Estimated Dissemination Rate (EDR), shows strongly that we have M. bovis firmly in our sights. If the EDR is greater than one, then the disease is growing. If it’s below one, we’re shrinking the disease.  “The EDR is now […]

DairyNZ wants people who have lost jobs due to COVID-19 know there is plenty of work on dairy farms, especially in Waikato, Canterbury, Otago and Southland – and that they might well earn more than in their previous role.   With the national unemployment rate forecast to rise sharply due to COVID-19, DairyNZ is encouraging people to consider work on dairy farms in a new Go Dairy campaign that also includes entry level training to help their transition to farming.   Immediately, there are 1,000 jobs up for grabs on dairy farms, says DairyNZ’s chief executive Dr Tim Mackle.   “As the new season gets under way on June 1, even more positions are likely to become available,” says Dr Mackle. “For people who’re looking for work and like the idea of caring for animals and the environment, there are lots of jobs – and career progression opportunities.”   People interested in knowing more about working on dairy farms, where the jobs are and the introductory training can visit godairy.co.nz/career-changers where they can register their interest.   While the Go Dairy career changers campaign, which is supported by Federated Farmers, aims to create awareness of the job opportunities, there is a big emphasis on ensuring new staff understand what is involved in farm life.   “We want a win-win situation – for new dairy farming employees to be happy and fulfilled in their new lifestyle and jobs, and for farm employers to have great talent working for them,” Dr Mackle says.   He adds that dairy also pays one of the highest average wages of all the primary sectors.   “For the most part, we’re anticipating interested people will be from the regions where there are big job losses in tourism and hospitality – and where there is dairying close […]

DairyNZ is urging the Government’s Independent Climate Change Commission to bring our international emissions reduction targets in line with our domestic targets legislated in the Zero Carbon Act by taking a ‘split gas’ approach, chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says. “Last year New Zealand took a world leading approach by legislating a split gas target in the Zero Carbon Act,” Dr Mackle says. “This recognised that methane is a short-lived gas and requires a different approach to the long-lived carbon dioxide. “While we need to take carbon to net zero, we can achieve a situation where we are no longer adding to global warming by reducing and stabilising our methane emissions.” New Zealand’s international target is currently expressed as a reduction of all greenhouse gases by 30 percent on 2005 levels. “This is a misalignment with our domestic policy and what the science has said on methane. Having an international target that splits the gases will send a much clearer signal to the international community on why New Zealand’s approach is in line with a 1.5 degrees target,” said Dr Mackle. “It will also allow us to put something on the table that is domestically achievable, and it will support policy alignment with what was legislated last year through the Zero Carbon Bill. “We are urging the Climate Change Commission to consider if New Zealand’s international target should be recommunicated as a split gas target, the same as how we are approaching this issue domestically. “While the Commission is reviewing our Paris Commitments, they should also be reviewing our domestic targets – particularly the methane reduction target which is set as a broad range – to ensure they are fair and appropriate in a New Zealand context,” Dr Mackle concluded.

The Our Freshwater 2020 report released today highlights New Zealand’s environmental challenges and where we can all play our part.   DairyNZ strategy and investment leader for environment, Dr David Burger, said dairy farmers are committed to protecting New Zealand’s environment and taking action on-farm to support that.   “Our dairy sector is on the journey to improve and protect water quality outcomes and our farmers have been working toward this for over a decade. We are continuing to do more every year,” said Dr Burger. “The Freshwater 2020 report does draw some key themes together for urban, farming and forestry, and shows us that all land use has an impact on our freshwater.”   However, Dr Burger said the report’s approach compares current water quality with native forest waterway condition, and DairyNZ believes it is therefore somewhat misleading.   “We know that all development has an impact on water quality but it is unrealistic to compare to native forest state. An estimated 95 percent of total river length in pastoral catchments exceeded one or more guideline values simply because they are being compared to very high native forest standard,” said Dr Burger.   “Interestingly, more than 50 percent of native waterways also failed to meet this criteria. This sets the benchmark very high for catchments with modified land use.   “We welcome further work to develop a more robust environmental reporting system, which is important to understand how to best manage this complex issue, but to also provide assurance that all the environmental actions landowners undertake is leading to improved water quality outcomes.”   Dr Burger said Our Freshwater 2020 does illustrates how vital the work underway is – particularly the importance of protecting and restoring wetlands, mitigating the impacts of all contaminants and improving ecosystem health.   “We […]