Media Release    29 SEPT 2013

Let's move from fossil farming to future-proof farming

"The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a stark choice for New Zealand agriculture," says Brendan Hoare, Chair of OANZ (Organics Aotearoa New Zealand). "We either grasp this opportunity to move away from fossil farming to future-proof farming - or we keep making the problem of climate change even worse by the way we farm. The status quo of more dams, more fertilisers and more animals per hectare is at least 20 years out of date. It is time to change the guard and our thinking." 

"More dams are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The proven, safe and affordable way to drought proof farms is an integrated approach which stores water in the soil and in plants, not in dams that are hazardous, environmentally unsound, and extremely expensive," said Mr Hoare.

"Farming methods that sequester carbon (helping prevent climate change) in the soil also make the soil rich in humus - and humus holds water right where farmers need it - under their feet, not evaporating out of a distant dam."

"Changing from two-species to multiple species pastures is also a proven (and cheap) method of drought-proofing a farm," Mr Hoare said. "Farmers who have learned to work with nature and not against it will be the ones who thrive in a warming world."

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