Environment Sustainability Showcase Speech
Ballance Farm Environment Awards Sustainability Showcase
Speech
Delivered by Ballance Agri-Nutrients Chairman
David Graham
13 JULY 2007
Good evening, distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be here at
the fourth annual Ballance Farm Environment Awards showcase,
and to have the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of
Ballance Agri-Nutrients and our national sponsor partners
PGG Wrightson, Gallagher Group, LIC, PPCS
and Hill
Laboratories.
I would like to particularly welcome:
Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Hon David
Parker
National Party Deputy Leader, Hon Bill
English
National Party Spokesman for Agriculture, Hon
David Carter
and Labour List MP Lesley Soper.
Welcome also to local government representatives. Having you all here tonight, and your involvement in and practical support of these awards, is a testament to how important sustainable farming is for our communities and our country.
The awards continue to demonstrate the growing commitment and enthusiasm of the farming community to sustainability and environmental protection. It’s a tribute to the commitment of the regional organising committees, national management team, and sponsor partners that these awards continue to grow in profile in farming communities throughout the country.
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards have an important role to play in showcasing best practice around environmental management and sustainable farming and I am always impressed with the variety, inventiveness and commitment of farmers up and down the country.
The feedback from the participants this year is that they were really looking for information and feedback on how to improve their practices, they didn’t just want a pat on the back. I am sure that our judges have delivered on this, as while the Farm Environment Awards are about celebrating winning practices, they are first and foremost focused on learning and knowledge sharing. So, to the entrants and winners this year, I congratulate you as industry leaders in sustainability.
The recent International Fertiliser Association conference I attended clearly highlighted that world agriculture is booming at present. World food production has tripled since 1961. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, fertilisers accounted for 30 to 50 percent of the total increase in world crop production over this time.*
Without the use of fertilisers, massive additional land areas would be required for agriculture, or a large portion of the world’s population would starve.
New Zealand’s exports of agriculture products totalled around $18 billion in 2006, accounting for over half of the country’s total merchandise exports, with $7 billion in dairy products alone, and $5 billion in meat and related products.**
Global population growth and improving economics in China and India are driving increased global consumer demand for protein food products. This, combined with the production of crops for biofuels, is placing pressure on agriculture worldwide to produce more off the same amount of land.
This increase in demand means that globally we need to get smarter to provide the food required, while minimising the impact on our environment, particularly soil and water quality.
In the long term the flourishing position of world agriculture can only be positive for New Zealand as returns to farmers improve, recently highlighted by the Fonterra announcement regarding the dairy payout.
However, with increased returns and sound economic conditions it is important that we take the opportunity to invest in minimising our environmental footprint wherever practical.
While our primary interest is to preserve our environment, globally we have an opportunity, perhaps even an obligation, to provide the world’s population with food, and we must not forget that New Zealand’s environmental footprint is minimal when compared to other producers around the world.
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently just 0.4 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions of OECD countries and Eastern economies in transition. Per capita, New Zealand’s carbon dioxide emissions are well below the median of these countries and less than half the per capita emissions of Australia, Canada and the USA.***
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are held each year with the ultimate goal of minimising the impact of farming on the environment. The New Zealand signing of the Kyoto agreement and the increasing global attention on climate change has highlighted the importance of this, and the foresight of the founders of the Farm Environment Awards.
The Government has given New Zealand agriculture a challenge to self-regulate, and we must continue to rise to this challenge if we want to maintain independence in our practices.
Ballance has clearly demonstrated its commitment to self-regulation over recent years, significantly investing in research and development to provide tools and technology to minimise the environmental impacts of plant nutrients.
This is reflected in the products and services we offer, such as nutrient budgets and nitrification inhibitors, as well as our adoption of the revised Code of Practice for Nutrient Management, and the introduction of comprehensive nutrient management plans.
Ballance will continue to invest in research and development and uphold the standards of the Code to help farmers manage plant nutrients for best possible production and environmental outcomes.
There is no silver bullet to solve climate change, and as the awards have highlighted, it is the small and continuous steps that lead to improvements. It is critical that the Government and the agriculture sector support a wide range of initiatives to continue this ongoing incremental improvement.
Farmers are doing a better job each and every year to improve their environment and farm sustainably.
It is significant that New Zealand is the only country considering a carbon tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. With agriculture such an important part of our economy, we need to ensure that we do not jeopardise the economic sustainability of farming in New Zealand by imposing costs not borne by other producers. We need to ensure we can continue to invest in science and the development of tools to improve our environmental performance.
It is to this end that the fertiliser industry does not support a tax on nitrogen fertilisers, but rather a market method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. A nitrogen charge only focuses on one of the many inputs to agricultural land, rather than the outputs, so in our view would be ineffective.
New Zealand has quite a different greenhouse gas emissions profile to other countries. Our agriculture sector emissions make up half of our total emissions, while agriculture only contributes to seven percent of OECD and Eastern countries’ total emissions. Emissions from animals used for food production are difficult to manage when compared with carbon dioxide emissions from energy production or transport.
According to Dr Steinfeld from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, New Zealand has ‘one of the most efficient and environmentally benign ruminant livestock industries in the world.’**** Our pastoral sector therefore faces less scope, and greater cost, to achieve further improvements than do less efficient pastoral sectors in other countries.
It is important that these differences are considered when looking at a policy to manage climate change in New Zealand. As always, it is a matter of balance (spelt with one l)!
In conclusion,
never before has it been more important that we demonstrate
to urban New Zealand, the Government, and the rest of the
world that New Zealand farming is sustainable. That we take
care of the environment but run economically sustainable
farming businesses – for our own sakes as farmers and for
our country. The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are
helping to demonstrate this and all of the 140 entrants
nationwide are proof of it.
So on behalf of Ballance and our fellow sponsors, I would like to thank everyone for attending the showcase tonight.
And of course, congratulations to the entrants and deserving regional supreme winners this year. Thank you for the commitment, leadership and enthusiasm you have demonstrated. Congratulations on an outstanding achievement.
ENDS
Notes to key speech facts:
* Fertilizer Handbook – Agriculture, Fertilizers and the Environment: (www.yara.com)
* * New Zealand External Trade Statistics: December 2006 (www.stats.govt.nz)
***
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change:
Greenhouse Gas Inventory Data 2006
(http://unfccc.int)
**** Livestock’s Long Shadow –
Environmental Issues and Options: 2006,
Dr Henning
Steinfeld, Chief of Livestock Information and Policy, Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
ENDS