Dairy NZ’s MAF funded workshop on global warming a fiery affair.
From the Pastural Farming Climate Research organisation:
Members newsletter:
Held in Dargaville earlier this month it attracted a crowd of 4 farmers. I thought the 8 that turned out previously in Dargaville to hear John Boscawen on his ETS tour was a poor turnout, but apparently not.
So does this mean farmers don’t care too much about the ETS and their liability and are just getting on with the job of being a farmer? Or is it just that it has been a long fight, and we are getting weary, which is what our opponents want, and in September a farm can be a lot more demanding of time than the worries of a future financial liability?
The four farmers there though were highly motivated. Because the group was so small each got to say why they had come and what they wanted from the day. All were sceptical of what the Government and Dairy NZ and Fonterra are saying about livestock emissions and wanted to know how they could possibly cause global warming. One of the farmers, as well as being sceptical about the role enteric methane plays in global warming stated quite bluntly he was there to see what Dairy NZ was doing with his levy money to represent farmers concerns about this.
Dr Clyton Moyo who is a climate change analyst for Dairy NZ, tried to tell the group that Dairy NZ was advocating for farmers. However, as this farmer pointed out, Dairy NZ has plenty to say on its website about livestock emissions but nowhere does it question the methodology for including and calculating the effect of methane emissions. Dairy NZ has made submissions to Government about the ETS but again it has never questioned the very questionable treatment of these emissions.
And one has to ask why on earth not? At the meeting Clyton Moyo took an absolute hammering from the farmers who do not accept what Dairy NZ say on behalf of MAF in regard to methane. When questioned, he could not explain the discrepancy between his statement that livestock production from a steady source did not increase the concentration of methane in the atmosphere and his statement that the same production source was a producer of greenhouse gas.
One would hope that someone of his education would be able to clarify this but so far no. He does say the treatment of enteric methane in the ETS is controversial and thinks that as information comes to hand and the questioning continues it will be reviewed.
He does though not seem to think that Dairy NZ has any role to play in advocating for farmers in this. Neither does Beef and Lamb who also take levy money from farmers and do nothing for them in terms of questioning the highly questionable treatment of enteric methane.
I was hopeful that Dr Moyo when faced with the farmer’s arguments and logic, that is far more convincing than anything MAF is saying, would realise what MAF is saying is bullshit and question it. With an organisation like Dairy NZ behind him someone such as himself would be able to force MAF to try and defend the indefensible. They would be found wanting and their arguments inadequate and Dairy NZ could use their considerable resources to inform the public and get the truth about livestock emissions told. This would embarrass their friends at MAF of course and maybe that is why they won’t do it?
But alas this farmer funded body seems to think its role is just to spew out the Governments bullshit. I am glad I am not a levy payer. But it leaves us, PFCR and you the members and farmers like the four at Dargaville to try and do what Dairy NZ could do so easily.
It has been a long fight and there is a long way to go and we are getting weary. But the fight is winnable and we should not allow ourselves to be worn down. The ETS will be reviewed in 2011 and we would like to get a professionally prepared report ready for it setting out the flaws in the way this ETS treats enteric methane.
We need a lot of money for this and we would like existing members to help by getting others to join us. Please if everyone got just two or three of their friends or neighbours to join us we will have something for the review.
Get them to go to the website or print this out and give it to them. We can do this, just a little from a lot will make all the difference.
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