New Zealand farmers protest plans to impose tax on sheep and goats

Sydney (Australia), October 20 (EFE).- New Zealand farmers demonstrated this Thursday in convoys of tractors in various cities of the maritime country against the world’s pioneering plan to tax greenhouse gas emissions from 2025. Belching of goats and cows.

Several tractor-trailers with placards reading “No Food Without Farmers” and protesters walked the streets and highways of cities like Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and other parts of the country. Images released by New Zealand media.

“We apologize for (the protests), but the thing is, if you have a government that doesn’t listen to you, you have to do things to make people aware,” said Groundswell, a co-founder of the lobby group and one of the leaders. Protest organizers Bryce McKenzie told Radio New Zealand.

Groundswell says on its website that the plan will reduce livestock production by 20% and milk production by 6%, without having a significant impact on reducing global emissions, as well as creating a situation where national farmers are replaced by other “skilled” foreigners. to the country.

Jacinda Ardern’s Labor government’s plan to cut agricultural emissions, presented last week, is in response to the maritime nation’s efforts to combat the climate crisis and, if approved, would make New Zealand the first country to make farmers pay for livestock emissions.

Almost half of New Zealand’s emissions in the country of five million people come from the sector, mainly its 26 million sheep and 10 million cows, mammals that emit methane gases produced during digestion.The plan targets arable farming. Belching and flatulence.

The Wellington Executive, which aims to achieve neutrality in pollutant emissions by 2050, has submitted its plan to consult with farmers until November 18 before its deadline expires at the end of the year to decide how the sector should tax emissions from farmers.

“We are in the midst of a very real (consultation) process,” Ardern said, adding that her government wants to work constructively with our food producers to get the best results for them and for New Zealand. Published today by Radio New Zealand.EFE

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