Farmers are concerned the Government's new agricultural emissions pricing plan will affect the "future sustainability of their farms and communities", an industry representative says.
Federated Farmers National President Andrew Hoggard told Breakfast this morning that farmers were unhappy about the scheme.
"What I've picked up from a lot of farmers is they're very upset about the proposals, particularly sheep and beef farmers," he said. "I've had a few text messages and calls from sheep and beef farmers who are really worried about the future sustainability of their family farms and their communities really, because it's not just the farms that may be affected.
"They may be able to hold on but others in the community may not and it just degrades their community. Less kids at school, is the school viable, is the rugby club viable, is the netball club viable, all of that sort of stuff.
"So particularly in the sheep and beef community, great deal of concern."
Hoggard added that the fortunes of businesses in rural communities are often tied to the success of the farms.
But climate ambassador for Dairy NZ George Moss said while he appreciates "change can actually be scary" and understands Hoggard's concerns, working with Government is the solution.
"I've seen land use change into dairy, seen it change back out, seen it change into forestry, seen it change back out, and even back into forestry from dairy. And when I look back at our own businesses - and I've come from a sheep and beef sector - and seen what are the absolute drivers of profitability, one has been the climate itself around droughts and floods.
"So, not surprised at yesterday's announcement, see it as an opportunity, see it as another moving part, and see it as how do we keep New Zealand competitive and responsible in a bigger picture?"
Later on Breakfast, National leader Christopher Luxon said the plan "seems really unfair" and is "really unacceptable".
National's leader says there's "no magic bullet" to reduce agricultural emissions. (Source: Breakfast)
"It's incredibly worrying, we trust and back our farmers, I talk to farmers every week. They understand they need to reduce emissions, they understand they ultimately need to price for emissions...but this proposal as it stands today I think breaks apart the industry consensus that we had."
He said National were still committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, "we also understand we need to reduce agricultural emissions", but the new plan wasn't the way to achieve that goal.
"It seems really unfair, it's unacceptable, and it's just not going to work for New Zealand so we've got to go back to the drawing board."
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