A Golden Opportunity for Farmers.

by Robin Grieve  of Pastural Farming Climate Research

Two remits put forward by Neil Henderson for the Beef and Lamb annual meeting give farmers an excellent opportunity to send a clear signal to Beef and Lamb that it must stop giving farmer’s money to the global warming industry.

Beef and Lamb is a partner in Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium which was set up to fund research into ways to reduce livestock greenhouse gas emissions. Beef and Lamb contribute a significant amount of farmer’s money to this consortium, as do Dairy NZ and Fonterra. One of the remits calls for Beef and Lamb to withdraw from the consortium and cease its financial contribution.

Farmers should vote for this remit because this consortium is a complete waste of time and money, the world would be a better place without it.

I base this on the fact, and it is a fact, that all emissions of methane from livestock are carbon neutral and don’t need mitigating.

The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium is blowing farmer’s money on a forlorn search for ways to reduce methane emissions that don’t need reducing. Worse than this they are helping advance the widespread misconception that livestock emissions of methane cause global warming. This consortium is doing farmers a disservice. Vote for the remit and get rid of it.

Beef and Lamb, Dairy NZ and Fonterra have turned a deaf ear to farmers concerns at the way livestock emissions of methane are misrepresented.  Short of voting out the farmer representatives of these organisations, farmers have had little opportunity to do anything about this; until now.

Beef and lamb have said they can not pull out of their contract with the consortium. However this contract expires in June 2012 and they will soon be deciding what to do after this time. This remit is timely; a vote for it will help them with this decision.  They also say rumen efficiency is worthy of research in its own right, but they are stretching credibility here. The cost of such research is far too high, the potential gains too small and the chance of success too unlikely.

Neil’s second remit calls for Beef and Lamb to promote the understanding that livestock emissions do not and can not cause global warming. This is a nobrainer livestock emissions can not and do not cause global warming and Beef and Lamb should be defending livestock and its products against the misinformation that abounds. The fact that they do not do this now makes me thankful I am not a levy payer. If it takes a remit to make them do their job, where’s the harm. Two ticks for Neil.

The voting papers have been posted; they are in your hands. Whether any more of your money is wasted supporting Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium and other global warming parasites, and on meaningless research is now up to you. Votes are due back by the end of March.

Voting for these remits is I believe the best opportunity farmers have had to make a point. Don’t waste it.

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