Most conversations about politics these days seem to focus on what people oppose, rather than what they support.
It may be Three Waters, or co-governance in general.
Other government regulations, like Essential Freshwater and the pricing of emissions, also provoke strong opposition.
What’s often missing from the conversation is an alternative future – one that solves the problem in front of us.
The thing is, staying where we are isn’t an option. Choosing not to do something is fine, but what’s the plan to tackle these big challenges?
A movement based solely on what you don’t want to do has no future.
It’s rooted in the present or the past.
Those with their eyes open to what is happening in the world know we can’t stand still.
That’s why some of our biggest food processors have signed up to the new Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions.
Fonterra, ANZCO, Silver Fern Farms and Ngāi Tahu are putting their own funds towards the research centre.
Every day these organisations talk to their customers overseas. They hear what those customers want and they work to get the best deal for their farmer-suppliers.
They all realise that this is the best way to expedite the technology needed to meet those demands.
They know that the demands they have to meet in this global marketplace are changing.
Food security – meeting the basic requirements of the world’s population – is part of it.
But for many of these big global players, doing business in a way that fits a brand and satisfies consumers is also vital.
The centre is part of the $338.7 million package announced in this year’s Budget to tackle on-farm emissions.
Our sector hopes to meet most of its future targets by developing new technologies to reduce emissions without having to greatly reduce production.
The partnership has come under fire from the likes of Greenpeace, which wants the dairy herd halved, because while the government funding comes from the emissions trading scheme, farming doesn’t pay into it.
With He Waka Eke Noa, the sector has a chance to stand by its rhetoric on sustainability. It’s not a perfect model. That probably doesn’t exist.
But it’s a start, and as more data is collected and more research is completed, it can be moulded into something that drives positive change and creates more value.
The government has demands that have to be met as well. The European Union free trade agreement signed recently includes this statement in the accompanying documentation: “The FTA includes ambitious outcomes on climate action that have never been included in an FTA before, making our commitments under the Paris Agreement subject to binding dispute settlement.”
The climate action centre has a lot riding on it, but it’s off to a good start with the funding and industry backing in place.
We can talk all we like about past achievements. The farming sector has so many that all New Zealanders can be rightly proud of.
But we also need to talk about our future, with clear eyes.
Because if we don’t, those other conversations, the ones exporters have in places like London, Berlin and Shanghai, will get much, much more difficult.
