Latest news with #SaveourSheep
Kuwait Times
04-08-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to ‘save our sheep'
New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions. Concern over the scale of the farm-to-forest switch led the government to impose a moratorium in December on any new conversions not already in the pipeline. But farmers say forestry companies are flouting the clampdown. Last month, farmers launched a 'Save our Sheep' campaign to reverse the loss of productive farmland. Sheep numbers have plummeted to around 23 million, down from a peak of around 70 million in the 1980s, according to official figures. Falling wool prices and rising milk and beef costs initially drove the decline, but the emissions trading since 2008 has added to the strain. The government is now investigating potential breaches of its moratorium by forestry companies, which have been buying up farmland as recently as June. Federated Farmers — a lobby group for rural communities — submitted to the government 'a list of properties we believe have been sold for carbon forestry' since the halt, a spokesman said. The federation is concerned about the sale of more than 15,200 hectares (37,600 acres) of farmland, he told AFP. Dean Rabbidge, who runs a farm outside the Southland town of Wyndham, said some of the newly purchased farms had already been planted with pine trees. This picture shows sheep waiting to be shorn at the 6,500-hectare Lake Hawea Station, located on the eastern shores of Lake Hawea, near the town of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. This photo shows sheep grazing at a farm in Ashburton. 'Criminal' 'They're just ploughing on ahead, effectively giving the middle finger to the government announcement,' Rabbidge told AFP. The moratorium had created a 'gold rush', he said. 'It's criminal what's happening.' Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said the government would change the law by October because it had become more profitable to plant pine forests than to farm sheep. 'The law will include clarity on what qualifies as legitimate evidence of a pre-December investment and enable any specific cases to be properly assessed,' McClay said. 'Anyone who has bought land since December 4, 2024, irrespective of whether they also had trees or not, will not be able to register this land into the emissions trading scheme.' Rural New Zealand once abounded with rolling pastures, rickety wire fences hemming in millions of sheep chewing on the green grass. But Rabbidge said those days were gone. 'You won't see anything now,' he said. 'You're just driving through long pine tree tunnels — shaded, wet, and damp.' New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100 percent of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry. 'We're not anti planting trees,' sheep farmer Ben Fraser told AFP. 'There are areas of land that should be retired, that aren't necessarily productive.' But the trading scheme had driven an excessive loss of sheep pastures to forestry, he said. 'That's the issue here.' 'So short-sighted' Fraser, who farms near the North Island town of Ohakune, said he had seen an exodus of people from the district in recent years. 'Since 2018, there've been 17 farms converted to forestry,' he said. 'That's about 18,000 hectares gone. So you're looking at about 180,000 sheep gone out of the district, plus lambs.' The loss of sheep impacted the region. 'If the farms thrive, then the towns thrive because people come in and spend their money,' he said. 'You've got farm suppliers, your fertilizer guys, your supermarkets, your butchers, all of that stuff struggling. 'The local schools now have less kids in them. The people who stayed are now isolated, surrounded by pine trees.' Rabbidge said the same was happening in Southland. 'This whole thing is just so short-sighted,' Rabbidge said. 'Businesses here are forecasting anywhere between a 10 and 15 percent revenue reduction for the next financial year, and that's all on the back of properties that have sold or have been planted out in pine trees,' he said. 'Lamb on a plate' 'Think of all the shearers, the contractors, the transporters, the farm supply stores, the workers, the community centers, the schools, rugby clubs. Everything is affected by this.' Government figures from 2023 show agriculture accounted for more than half of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions. But farmers argue they have been working hard to reduce emissions, down more than 30 percent since the 1990s. 'I could put a leg of lamb on a plate in London with a lower emissions profile, transport included, than a British farmer,' Rabbidge said. 'We just use our natural resources. We're not housing animals indoors and carting feed in and manure out. 'Everything's done outside and done at low cost, low and moderate intensity.' — AFP
Otago Daily Times
29-07-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Young leaders to step up: president
The election of Canterbury sharemilker Karl Dean to the national dairy chairman role for Federated Farmers will cause Bex Green to step up as North Canterbury's president. Mr Dean, 36, replaced former dairy chairman Richard McIntyre and also takes his position on the national board with Richard Dawkins, 35, replacing Toby Williams to also join the national board. Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford said the two young leaders were stepping up into significant national leadership roles. "While they may be new to our national team, they're by no means new to Federated Farmers. They've held senior leadership roles within our organisation for some time now. Karl and Richard are both highly respected and experienced farmers within their regions, and have worked their way up from the grassroots." Mr Dean was previously the North Canterbury provincial president and vice-chairman of the national dairy council. "It's also been a huge honour to work with Richard McIntyre over the past seven years on the dairy council, and his 12 years of service hasn't gone unnoticed. His leadership has helped shape a strong, positive culture, and I'm committed to carrying that legacy forward." Mr Dawkins, who farms with his wife Jess in the Waihopai Valley near Blenheim, was elected as the organisation's new national meat and wool chairman. He has previously spent five years on the national meat and wool council and two years as Marlborough's vice-president. Mrs Green said the provincial president role had been in her sights for some time and she had just been waiting for the right moment for her family and her farming business. "Dairy farming is my passion, but I'm really excited that as president I'll get to broaden my horizons and come to grips with the issues in meat, wool and arable as well." She contract milks 1000 cows with her husband Blair in Culverden and was the province's vice-president under former president Caroline Amyes. With a third child still a toddler, she stayed as vice-president and took on the province's dairy chairwoman role when Mr Dean took over as president. Mrs Green has also been elected national dairy vice-chairwoman, the position Mr Dean vacated. She was named Federated Farmers 2024 Dairy Advocate of the Year for her leadership on issues such as streamlining a path to work in the dairy sector for immigrants. She was ready to tackle challenges to farmers. "Our North Canterbury sheep and beef farmers have been under huge pressure in recent years. They've had all those existing issues impacting the sector — and then a horrific drought on top of that. With the Federated Farmers 'Save our Sheep' campaign now well under way, my hope is we can bring more local sheep farmers back into the fold and really give them a voice and a platform." With three children under 13, she still finds time for multi-sports as a former Coast to Coast competitor, winning team categories for the past two years.
eNCA
28-07-2025
- Business
- eNCA
New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'
WELLINGTON - New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions. Concern over the scale of the farm-to-forest switch led the government to impose a moratorium in December on any new conversions not already in the pipeline. But farmers say forestry companies are flouting the clampdown. Last month, farmers launched a "Save our Sheep" campaign to reverse the loss of productive farmland. Sheep numbers have plummeted to around 23 million, down from a peak of around 70 million in the 1980s, according to official figures. Falling wool prices and rising milk and beef costs initially drove the decline, but the emissions trading since 2008 has added to the strain. The government is now investigating potential breaches of its moratorium by forestry companies, which have been buying up farmland as recently as June. Federated Farmers -- a lobby group for rural communities -- submitted to the government "a list of properties we believe have been sold for carbon forestry" since the halt, a spokesman said. The federation is concerned about the sale of more than 15,200 hectares of farmland, he told AFP. Dean Rabbidge, who runs a farm outside the Southland town of Wyndham, said some of the newly purchased farms had already been planted with pine trees. - 'Criminal' - "They're just ploughing on ahead, effectively giving the middle finger to the government announcement," Rabbidge told AFP. AFP | KAVINDA HERATH The moratorium had created a "gold rush", he said. "It's criminal what's happening." Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said the government would change the law by October because it had become more profitable to plant pine forests than to farm sheep. "The law will include clarity on what qualifies as legitimate evidence of a pre-December investment and enable any specific cases to be properly assessed," McClay said. "Anyone who has bought land since December 4, 2024, irrespective of whether they also had trees or not, will not be able to register this land into the emissions trading scheme." Rural New Zealand once abounded with rolling pastures, rickety wire fences hemming in millions of sheep chewing on the green grass. But Rabbidge said those days were gone. "You won't see anything now," he said. "You're just driving through long pine tree tunnels -- shaded, wet, and damp." New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100 percent of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry. "We're not anti-planting trees," sheep farmer Ben Fraser told AFP. "There are areas of land that should be retired, that aren't necessarily productive." But the trading scheme had driven an excessive loss of sheep pastures to forestry, he said. "That's the issue here." - 'So short-sighted' - Fraser, who farms near the North Island town of Ohakune, said he had seen an exodus of people from the district in recent years. "Since 2018, there've been 17 farms converted to forestry," he said. "That's about 18,000 hectares gone. So you're looking at about 180,000 sheep gone out of the district, plus lambs." The loss of sheep impacted the region. "If the farms thrive, then the towns thrive because people come in and spend their money," he said. "You've got farm suppliers, your fertiliser guys, your supermarkets, your butchers, all of that stuff struggling. "The local schools now have less kids in them. The people who stayed are now isolated, surrounded by pine trees." Rabbidge said the same was happening in Southland. "This whole thing is just so short-sighted," Rabbidge said. "Businesses here are forecasting anywhere between a 10 and 15 percent revenue reduction for the next financial year, and that's all on the back of properties that have sold or have been planted out in pine trees," he said. - 'Lamb on a plate' - "Think of all the shearers, the contractors, the transporters, the farm supply stores, the workers, the community centres, the schools, rugby clubs. Everything is affected by this." Government figures from 2023 show agriculture accounted for more than half of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions. But farmers argue they have been working hard to reduce emissions, down more than 30 percent since the 1990s. "I could put a leg of lamb on a plate in London with a lower emissions profile, transport included, than a British farmer," Rabbidge said. "We just use our natural resources. We're not housing animals indoors and carting feed in and manure out. "Everything's done outside and done at low cost, low and moderate intensity." by Ben Strang
New Straits Times
27-07-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
NZ sheep farmers battle pine forests
WELLINGTON: New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions. Concern over the scale of the farm-to-forest switch led the government to impose a moratorium in December on any new conversions not already in the pipeline. But farmers say forestry companies are flouting the clampdown. Last month, farmers launched a "Save our Sheep" campaign to reverse the loss of productive farmland. Sheep numbers have plummeted to around 23 million, down from a peak of around 70 million in the 1980s, according to official figures. Falling wool prices, and rising milk and beef costs initially drove the decline, but the emissions trading since 2008 has added to the strain. The government is now investigating potential breaches of its moratorium by forestry companies, which have been buying up farmland as recently as June. Federated Farmers — a lobby group for rural communities — submitted to the government "a list of properties we believe have been sold for carbon forestry" since the halt, said a spokesman. The federation is concerned about the sale of more than 15,200ha of farmland, he said. Dean Rabbidge, who runs a farm outside the Southland town of Wyndham, said some of the newly purchased farms had already been planted with pine trees. The moratorium had created a "gold rush", he said. "It's criminal what's happening." Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said the government would change the law by October because it had become more profitable to plant pine forests than to farm sheep. "The law will include clarity on what qualifies as legitimate evidence of a pre-December investment and enable any specific cases to be properly assessed," said McClay. Rural New Zealand once abounded with rolling pastures, rickety wire fences hemming in millions of sheep chewing on the green grass. But Rabbidge said those days were gone. New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100 per cent of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry. "We're not anti planting trees," said sheep farmer Ben Fraser. But the trading scheme had driven an excessive loss of sheep pastures to forestry, he said. "This whole thing is just so short-sighted," Rabbidge said. Government figures from 2023 show agriculture accounted for more than half of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions. But farmers argue they have been working hard to reduce emissions, down more than 30 per cent since the 1990s. AFP
The Star
27-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'
WELLINGTON: New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions. Concern over the scale of the farm-to-forest switch led the government to impose a moratorium in December on any new conversions not already in the pipeline. But farmers say forestry companies are flouting the clampdown. Last month, farmers launched a "Save our Sheep" campaign to reverse the loss of productive farmland. Sheep numbers have plummeted to around 23 million, down from a peak of around 70 million in the 1980s, according to official figures. Falling wool prices and rising milk and beef costs initially drove the decline, but the emissions trading since 2008 has added to the strain. The government is now investigating potential breaches of its moratorium by forestry companies, which have been buying up farmland as recently as June. Federated Farmers - a lobby group for rural communities - submitted to the government "a list of properties we believe have been sold for carbon forestry" since the halt, a spokesman said. The federation is concerned about the sale of more than 15,200 hectares of farmland, he told AFP. Dean Rabbidge, who runs a farm outside the Southland town of Wyndham, said some of the newly purchased farms had already been planted with pine trees. "They're just ploughing on ahead, effectively giving the middle finger to the government announcement," Rabbidge told AFP. The moratorium had created a "gold rush", he said. "It's criminal what's happening." Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said the government would change the law by October because it had become more profitable to plant pine forests than to farm sheep. "The law will include clarity on what qualifies as legitimate evidence of a pre-December investment and enable any specific cases to be properly assessed," McClay said. "Anyone who has bought land since December 4, 2024, irrespective of whether they also had trees or not, will not be able to register this land into the emissions trading scheme." Rural New Zealand once abounded with rolling pastures, rickety wire fences hemming in millions of sheep chewing on the green grass. But Rabbidge said those days were gone. "You won't see anything now," he said. "You're just driving through long pine tree tunnels - shaded, wet and damp." New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100 per cent of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry. "We're not anti planting trees," sheep farmer Ben Fraser told AFP. "There are areas of land that should be retired, that aren't necessarily productive." But the trading scheme had driven an excessive loss of sheep pastures to forestry, he said. "That's the issue here." Fraser, who farms near the North Island town of Ohakune, said he had seen an exodus of people from the district in recent years. "Since 2018, there've been 17 farms converted to forestry," he said. "That's about 18,000 hectares gone. So you're looking at about 180,000 sheep gone out of the district, plus lambs." The loss of sheep impacted the region. "If the farms thrive, then the towns thrive because people come in and spend their money," he said. "You've got farm suppliers, your fertiliser guys, your supermarkets, your butchers, all of that stuff struggling. "The local schools now have less kids in them. The people who stayed are now isolated, surrounded by pine trees." Rabbidge said the same was happening in Southland. "This whole thing is just so short-sighted," Rabbidge said. "Businesses here are forecasting anywhere between a 10 and 15 per cent revenue reduction for the next financial year, and that's all on the back of properties that have sold or have been planted out in pine trees," he said. "Think of all the shearers, the contractors, the transporters, the farm supply stores, the workers, the community centres, the schools, rugby clubs. Everything is affected by this." Government figures from 2023 show agriculture accounted for more than half of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions. But farmers argue they have been working hard to reduce emissions, down more than 30 percent since the 1990s. "I could put a leg of lamb on a plate in London with a lower emissions profile, transport included, than a British farmer," Rabbidge said. "We just use our natural resources. We're not housing animals indoors and carting feed in and manure out. "Everything's done outside and done at low cost, low and moderate intensity." - AFP
