New Zealand unveils plans to charge goats and cattle

The plan, which takes effect in 2025, would make the country the first country to make farmers pay for livestock emissions, one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect.

The New Zealand government has put forward its world-first plan to introduce tolls from 2025. Goat and cow emissions of greenhouse gases, in a country where the head of cattle increases the population. It did not specify the collection estimate or detail the release price or how these will be measured, which farmers will be consulted on until November 18.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised All money raised by funding the new technology is returned to the industry, research and incentives for farmers. “No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers will benefit from being the first to act,” Ardern said in a statement.

The move comes amid efforts by the maritime nation, a major agricultural exporter, to combat the effects of the climate crisis. Farmers are the first country to pay for cattle removal.

In New Zealand, a country of five million people, almost half of the country’s emissions come from the agricultural sector, mainly its 26 million sheep and 10 million cows, ruminant mammals expel methane gas produced during digestion through belching and flatulence..

The proposal, promoted by a coalition of primary sector unions He Waga AK Nova, includes Incentives for farmers to reduce emissions can be further offset by afforestation. “This is an important step in New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions future and delivers on our promise to price agricultural emissions from 2025 (…) This proposal allows New Zealand farmers to reduce emissions, provide a competitive advantage and enhance our export brand,” Ardern said.

Critical voices

However, the plan has not convinced all farming associations, who say the policy will reduce the number of cattle and goat farms in the country.

The Federated Farmers Union of New Zealand, one of the industry’s main lobby groups, responded in a statement to the government plan. See farms that have been “wiped out of rural New Zealand” and replaced by plantations. “Our plan was to make farmers farm,” said Federated Farmers president Andrew Hogarth, who promised farmers would sell their property “and you won’t even hear the dogs barking behind the (truck) while driving.” They’re moving away.”

The agricultural sector accounts for 10% of New Zealand’s GDP and 65% of its export earnings. Wellington has until the end of the year to decide how to tax emissions from the agricultural sector, aiming to achieve neutrality in pollutant emissions by 2050.