New Zealand farmers are up in arms against the cow burp tax

Government of New Zealand As part of a plan to tackle climate change, it has proposed paying for greenhouse gases produced when farm animals burn and urinate. The strategy involves a tax on both methane burned by cows and nitrous oxide emitted by livestock. Guardian.

Under the government’s proposed plan, farmers who meet limits on herd size and fertilizer use would start paying for emissions in 2025. However, the exact figure New Zealand farmers will have to pay is unknown. The course will be determined every one to three years in consultation with the Climate Change Commission and farmers.

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Enrique Tintore

According to the Prime Minister, this controversial move Jacinda ArdernGiving New Zealand’s agriculture sector global competitiveness: “Reducing emissions will help New Zealand farmers not only be the best in the world, but the world’s best.”

And, in addition, it will help fulfill the country Methane reduction target of 10% by 2030 and 47% by 2050. In this way, the money collected along with agricultural tax will be plowed back into the sector to fund new technologies, research and incentive payments to farmers.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor commented that this was an opportunity for farmers, rather than a tax: “Farmers are already experiencing the impact of climate change with regular droughts and floods. […] “Leading on agricultural emissions is good for the environment and our economy.”

Farmers are reluctant to pay for agricultural pollution

The plan to combat climate change, proposed in May by the He Waga Ake Noa Association – developed with support from farmers, industry and Māori and the Ministries of Primary Industries and Environment – directly affects the country’s biggest resource. Export earnings. But this fundamental pillar of the New Zealand economy is in direct conflict with the government’s objectives of doing as little harm to the environment as possible.

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Joachim Elcacho

New Zealand is home to only 5 million people with 10 million cattle and dairies and 26 million sheep. This population distribution accounts for half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from farms. A very unusual one. Therefore, the government feels that action should be taken.

Therefore, the farmers have strongly condemned this scheme. Federated Farmers, the industry’s main lobby group, said the plan would “gut out little New Zealand” and replace farms with trees.

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Draft

Andrew Hogarth, the head of the federation, is deeply displeased with the move and has criticized the authorities for not reaching a better solution after more than two years of working hand-in-hand with the government on an emissions reduction plan that does not have a negative impact on food. Production.

In this sense, Hogarth made a gloomy prediction: “Farmers will sell their farms so fast that the dogs in the back of the truck will not even be heard barking.”

The New Zealand government says the world-first farm tax should not have a negative impact on farmers’ pockets as long as it raises the price of climate-friendly produce.

The 2003 proposal failed

An agreement on the proposal should be reached by early 2023. Farmers have a lot of influence in New Zealand, so reaching an agreement between the two parties will not be easy. Otherwise, Ardern’s Labor Party, which has lost popularity according to recent polls, will be badly hit and out of the re-election race.

This is not the first time New Zealand has tried to tax methane emissions from farm animals. It was already tried in 2003, but without success. Then, the farmers also stood up and took power, which saw the opposition mocking the move as a ‘furt tax’.

The fact is that the current proposal referring to belching and urination is more appropriate. This is due to the fact that most of the gasses exhaled by livestock escape through the animal’s mouth.