Climate Change Highlighted For Farmers

Media Release
For Immediate Release

28 August 2009

Climate Change Highlighted For Farmers

The Carbon Farming Group’s website highlighting climate change issues for farmers has attracted over 15,000 visitors.

Celebrating its first birthday this month, Carbon Farming Group was set up to provide farmers with impartial information on issues surrounding climate change. The recently updated website contains independent information on relevant issues ranging from soil carbon to tips for reducing agricultural emissions, and has been updated to include:

• A more detailed forestry carbon calculator
• Soil carbon farming, an explanation and the latest thinking explored
• Carbon trading information
• Emissions Trading Scheme updates
• International Agreements explained
• Greenhouse gases and farming livestock information
• Risks and liabilities for farmers explained
• And more.

“The Carbon Farming Group’s website is a one-stop shop for independent information on all issues surrounding climate change that are relevant for farmers. Farmers have limited time, so we felt it was important to gather together all the information farmers may need to access on this increasingly important and complex issue. Farmers can find what they need with a couple of clicks of their mouse.

“It’s also useful for farmers to be able to estimate what their liabilities under the Emissions Trading Scheme may be, by using one of our simple to use online calculators. We’re expecting further announcements on how the ETS will operate, any time now. Any new information will be clearly detailed on our website,” said Clayton Wallwork, Trustee - Carbon Farming Group.

The online calculator is proving very popular with farmers. Farmers can work out their approximate liabilities under the ETS, using data averaged across New Zealand. Once the details for agriculture under the ETS are finalised the Carbon Farming Group will modify the calculations if required, to ensure the calculators remain accurate and useful for farmers.

“We’ve attempted to provide information on all the relevant issues in an easy to digest format. There’s a lot of information out there and farmers simply don’t have the time to read it all and filter out what is useful for them - we’ve done it for them and made it easy to access on our website,” said Clayton.

A newsletter containing an overview of relevant issues for farmers and other interested parties is distributed regularly and can be subscribed to online through the CFG website: www.carbonfarming.org.nz
ENDS

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