Federated Farmers backs greenhouse gas centre

Federated Farmers backs greenhouse gas research centre

Federated Farmers is welcoming today’s opening of the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre in Palmerston North.

“To Federated Farmers, the centre is about efficiency and the ability to produce more outputs from fewer farm inputs,” says Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers.

“Having heard an activist on the street saying carbon dioxide should be banned, perhaps the Centre should examine if the carbon dioxide and methane emitted by ruminant animals, is a necessary and beneficial part of the agricultural cycle.

“An ability to use less farm inputs while producing more food off the back of reduced emissions, is to me, agriculture’s holy trinity.

“As the Hon David Carter stressed last week at the OECD, where he co-chaired the Agriculture Ministers meeting, there is a pressing need to feed the 3.3 billion mouths that will join humanity over the next four decades.

“With regards to the Centre, Federated Farmers is very keen to analyse what research programmes it will concentrate upon and how these will be administered. To Federated Farmers it must be about developing commercially viable solutions.

“More so, given the very positive pledges made late last year to the Global Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation. These pledges must be turned into actual money if the Centre‘s $5 million annual investment is to be given wings.

“The Centre is a very good start and we’ll back any investment in agriculture but it further rams home the need for a bipartisan commitment to substantially lift New Zealand’s spending on research and development,” Mr Nicolson concluded.

ENDS

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