Greens want 15pc of NZ farms organic by 2015

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The Green Party today launched an agricultural policy which calls for 15 per cent of the nation's farms to be going organic by 2015, and for half of farm production to be organic by 2020.

Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimmons told the crowd at the Hastings Agricultural and Pastoral Show – where the National Party released its agricultural policy yesterday – that an essential part of the strategy was keeping New Zealand farming GE free.

"It's vital we retain and build on our international reputation as a clean, green country as this underpins our export industry," she said.

Making common-sense changes towards sustainable farming techniques was pivotal, and the policy focused on producing food and fibre in a way that not only increased profitability but reduced environmental impacts.

Organic farming had received only sporadic support, but could provide a model for sustainable systems to protect soil and water resources.

State-owned farmer Landcorp should be used to model sustainable farming techniques such as organic production, retiring riparian areas and areas of high erosion, conserving biodiversity, and reducing synthetic fertiliser use, she said.

And urban sprawl should be limited to stop prime agricultural land being taken for housing, lifestyle blocks and commercial developments.

Regional councils could advise farmers on cost-effective options, and land and water management plans such as nutrient budgets and stocking rate limits.

Landowners would be offered incentives for appropriate land use, such as encouraging erosion-prone hill country to be planted in forestry rather than grazed. And there should be incentives for maintaining or enhancing the environment, such as riparian plantings or preventing soil erosion and nutrient run-off.

Expanding wetlands, lowland forests and green corridors would enhance biodiversity, and forests could include species such as macrocarpa and totara which did not need chemical treatment.

To wean farmers off using toxic chemicals, the Green Party wants to cut pesticide use by 50 per cent in five years, and it says landowners using sprays should be responsible for chemical trespass when pesticides affect areas outside their property.

Aerial spraying would only be permitted when it was the safest, least toxic, most effective method of control.

On the sticky issue of controlling methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock – a big chunk of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions – Ms Fitzsimmons said sheep and beef farmers would not be liable for any of their livestock emissions until they exceeded 1990 levels.

"The main growth in agricultural emissions has come from dairying and deer, and the Government's plan has sheep and beef farmers subsidising them," she said.

The Green Party would take a more precautionary approach to biosecurity, and levy vessels, passengers and freight entering the country to better fund biosecurity services, Ms Fitzsimons said.

The Greens would amend the Overseas Investment Act to prevent people buying land here unless they were residents or held New Zealand citizenship.

And rather than farmers relying on price to compete in commodity markets, there should be a focus on producing higher value products for export.

And farmers should not have to face unfair competition at home from cheap imported food and agricultural products produced with lower environmental, health and safety standards, such as garlic from China and imported pork,

Importing sweetened condensed milk from Chile and Malaysia was not only absurd but unsustainable in terms of the energy required for transport.

Importers should have to show their products meet minimum environmental, labour, health and safety standards, and country of origin labelling for all single-ingredient agricultural products should be mandatory.

The nation's self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs, especially grains, should be boosted by improving seed supply, and contracting farmers to grow grains which are in short supply domestically.  

- NZPA