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Green Party’s Agriculture Policy Denies Basic Science

The Green Party’s agriculture policy is based on a mistaken understanding about the environmental impact of livestock farming FARM spokesman Robin Grieve said today

James Shaw attempted to justify his Party’s policy to price livestock emissions on his belief that livestock produce half New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. The science and the facts about ruminant methane emissions do not support that.

FARM was set up to present the facts about ruminant methane and the Green Party policy demonstrates how much the facts and the science of ruminant methane emissions are missing from the political debate about global warming.

Using the discredited and non scientific CO2 equivalent system to quantify ruminant emissions, as the Green Party has done, is to misrepresent the environmental impact of livestock farming and any pricing scheme that is introduced for these emissions will be a financial fraud .by the Government on New Zealand’s farmers. It is nothing more than dishonest to quantify emissions of ruminant methane using a system that does not take in to account the fact that ruminant methane emissions do not accumulate in the atmosphere in the way the system assumes they do. The system is not fit for purpose and should not be used.

The Ministry for the Environment states clearly that emissions of ruminant methane do not need to decrease at all in order to stop global warming and that means current ruminant methane emissions are not causing global warming, do not need to be reduced and should not be priced under any circumstances.

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FARM urges all political parties to listen to the science about livestock emissions of methane when developing their policies and not stick doggedly to false beliefs based on the failed CO2 equivalent system just because it suits their anti farming ideology.

New Zealand farmers have had enough of the lies and the unfair and unwarranted demonization by our politicians. Our farmers lead the world in producing high value produce with low environmental impacts and humanity is served well by their efforts.

Food is one of the most fundamental human requirements and New Zealand should be proud of the part it’s farmers play in meeting that human need.

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