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Unless you are a hard-left Green Party member, you probably disagree with Jacinda’s latest policy to tax farmers on methane emissions. It isn’t even necessary; the Paris Accord stated that climate efforts should not interfere with food supply, and this, of course, does exactly that. This will not bother the queen of virtue-signalling one iota, of course, as the timing was designed to impress at the COP 27 conference that is taking place right now.
Everyone knows by now that these climate conferences are nothing but talk fests containing far too much hot air, after which they all head off in their private jets feeling virtuous and confident that the proletariat will do as they are told. As for the attendees, of course…well, all these rules don’t apply to them, do they?
New Zealand has always been an agricultural country and our produce is of very high quality. Our farmers are among the very best in the world. We could still feed the world, but Jacinda has decided otherwise. Her policy of taxing farmers for methane is likely to result in about 20% of sheep and beef farmers and about 5% of dairy farmers moving off the land, as the costs will make their businesses uneconomic. Jacinda doesn’t care; there is nothing that will rob her of an opportunity to virtue-signal, even if the result is the ruin of the country she calls home. After all, this is her generation’s ‘nuclear moment’. Let me just say this though. Unless you were alive in Japan in 1945, the ‘nuclear moment’ never happened. It got close in 1962, but thankfully, there was no nuclear war.
Maybe the same will happen with the climate. Do you think?
Jacinda’s actions against farmers are threatening to impoverish New Zealand by turning prime agricultural land into scrub land growing mainly pine trees. This is the crazy world of carbon credits, where landowners do absolutely nothing and rake in the cash from the government. The scheme – or should I say scam – has been in play for some years now, and is effectively nothing more than a very expensive welfare scheme. The landowners don’t even have to trim the trees.
Once land has been reduced to pine forest, it is difficult if not impossible to return it to prime pasture for agriculture. This is the threat posed by this Government. It is prepared to ruin the country economically, reduce the overall food supply to the world and punish some of the most efficient farmers in the world for no real benefit at all.
But you know what they say. You can’t keep a good Kiwi down. And there are plans afoot to stop the rot – one farm on the block at a time.
A syndicate is banding together to try and save Mangaohane Station from being lost to pine trees.
The iconic 4840-hectare property runs 40,000 stock units northeast of Taihape, and is up for sale by international tender, closing next month.
The syndicate, Farming Forever NZ, is trying to crowdfund the nearly $40 million price tag, asking potential investors to pitch in to try and stop Mangaohane Station from being purchased by overseas buyers and planted out in pine trees for carbon credits or forestry.
Not only will it be lost to farming forever, but it will go to overseas owners as well, meaning all those carbon credits paid out so diligently by the Government will end up in foreign hands. You really couldn’t make it up, could you?
Mike Barham, the man behind the syndicate, said he’d rather stay in the background, but could no longer stay silent.
“Somebody’s got to make a stand and do this,” Barham told The Country’s Jamie Mackay.
“I’m a passionate farmer and I just can’t stand seeing these iconic, special farms go into trees.”
Barham said planting trees was a big part of Kiwi agriculture but should not be at the expense of prime farming land.
Absolutely. There are lots of places where we can plant trees. There is plenty of scrubland around the country that could be turned into forestry. We could encourage people to plant more trees in their backyards. There is absolutely no need for the country to lose prime grazing land, just because our current prime minister loves to virtue signal.
Barham hoped his cause would reach further than Mangaohane Station and alert the public to the rural community’s growing concern about losing farming land to forestry or carbon farming.
“If we do this properly and get the right media out there, there will be a lot of talk around our issue that may well get permanent change with what is creating the problem …
Please note how he says he wants ‘the right media’ involved…
“It’s not just the one farm, it’s [about] creating a change [in the] policy that allows what’s happening – for farms to be planted in carbon and the gate shut on them forever.”
Mangaohane Station is owned by the same family that recently sold another iconic property, Huiarua Station, to overseas firms for forestry conversion.
Barham was concerned the challenging outlook for New Zealand’s sheep and beef industry meant this trend was on the increase.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many farms for sale.”
NZ Herald
Jacinda’s policy on agriculture has sent shivers up the spines of many farmers, who can see a bleak future ahead for themselves and their families and are taking what may appear to be the best option available.
None of this needs to happen, of course, but socialists hate farmers. I guess they can get all the meat and milk they want in the supermarket, so why do we need farms?
In the meantime, with all the dark clouds ahead, it is comforting to see a little bit of Kiwi ingenuity out there that just might help to solve the problem.
Gareth Morgan might want to open his chequebook… or does that only happen if he thinks he can get an exclusive benefit for himself and his family at the expense of hard-working Kiwis?
