Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Government will continue working with the agriculture sector to iron out issues with the agricultural emissions pricing plan announced last week.
The Government has proposed bringing in split-gas farm-level emissions pricing from 2025. The scheme proposes a processor-level levy as a backstop alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme.
It also proposes sequestration will be accounted for through the ETS, and is seeking feedback on whether to charge farmers and manufacturers for synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
When asked about criticism the scheme has faced from both environmentalists and the agricultural sector, Ardern said: "I think when you're getting that on both sides, it demonstrates that you're probably trying to find the pathway through, and we genuinely are.
"We took the proposal that came to us from our primary producers, from the sector.
"We made two changes fundamentally really; one was just to say 'look, when it comes to setting the levy, we're not going to leave that to the sector', we do believe that we need to have a bit more impartiality."
Ardern said the views of the sector were factored in "but we also need to take the views of the Climate Commission".
"And the second (change) was on sequestration, but our message is, 'let's actually work through those issues together'.
"But fundamentally, the principles we've worked with came from the sector because we needed to make sure that they were workable, that they could be delivered on a farm, so it was key that we heard their view on that."
Federated Farmers National President Andrew Hoggard told Breakfast last week 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."
National leader Christopher Luxon has said the plan "seems really unfair" and is "really unacceptable".
"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."
The consultation period on the plan ends on November 18.
Ardern said the sector "just want to make sure that their position and their view is being heard".
"And I understand that, but I think they'll also appreciate that if we just have the levy set by our primary producers, that would be a very unusual set of circumstances, and so I think there'll probably be some appreciation of that too," she added.
"We've not always agreed with the farming leaders we've worked with but they've been very open relationships, we've been able to share where we agree and disagree, and we will continue to do that over the next six weeks.
"Equally, of course, almost half our emissions do come from agricultural greenhouse gases. We have to make sure that we are addressing that. Let's do it together and I'm a believer that we will find that way through."
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