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Jenny Lux Soil and Health Assn

Organic regenerative farming needed to reduce climate change, not GE

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New Zealand doesn’t need a loosening of GE regulation to combat climate change, it needs significant investment in organic, regenerative agriculture, says the Soil & Health Association.

Parliament recently passed the Organic Products and Production Act, with cross-party support. This should be a springboard to revolutionise our farming and exports, but making it easier to release GMOs into the environment will jeopardise that.

“By being GE-free, we’re far from ‘missing out.’ Being GE-free gives us a point of difference in the world market,” says Jenny Lux, Chair of Soil & Health.

“We already have an advantage in being an island nation in the South Pacific, and need to be really careful about any uncontrolled releases of GMOs into the outdoors. Our products are attractive to overseas buyers because they’re seen as clean, safe, natural and uncontaminated. Once we release GMOs there’s no containing them. We need to continue to safeguard our environment and our brand.”

Obvious agricultural solutions to lower greenhouse gas emissions, such as reducing or eliminating synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, have not been implemented at scale. Now there’s a renewed focus on gene technologies, which are attractive to corporates and researchers because they can be patented and commercialised.

But GE has not yet lived up to the hope or the hype. The $25 million dollar New Zealand GE ryegrass trials have not yet yielded more dry matter than traditionally bred rye grasses. These would be grown in monocultures, or with only one or two other species, which is not good for long term soil health.

“It’s already been demonstrated that diverse, mixed species pastures reduce ruminant methane emissions, and are more resilient to climate extremes,” says Jenny Lux.  “Organic regenerative farming methods are free for all farmers to adopt, and unsurprisingly, they’re not under any patents.”

Soil & Health urges all NZ political parties not to loosen regulations on GE in NZ, and instead to direct attention and funding towards expanding organic farming here. Organic regenerative farming sequesters more carbon in the soil, and uses fewer costly inputs, empowering farmers. “We need research centres dedicated to organic, regenerative agriculture and farmer extension programmes to build that knowledge in rural communities,” says Jenny Lux.

Letter to Ministers and MPs: Seizing the opportunities of organic regenerative farming

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A remit passed at the 2022 Soil & Health AGM calling for advocacy on climate change action through organic regenerative farming.

The following letter was sent to Ministers and MPs on 18th April 2023.

To:
Hon Damian O’Connor MP, Minister for Primary Industries;
Hon James Shaw MP, Minister of Climate Change
Chris Luxon MP, Leader of the Opposition
Todd McClay MP, Opposition spokesperson for agriculture
Simon Watts MP, Opposition spokesperson for climate change
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer MP, Co-leader Te Pāti Māori
Mark Cameron MP, ACT Party agriculture spokesperson
Simon Court MP, ACT Party climate change spokesperson
Teanau Tuiono MP, Green Party agriculture spokesperson

Dear Ministers, and Members of Parliament,

Re. Seizing the Opportunities of Organic Regenerative Farming

We write to you in the aftermath of cyclone Gabrielle, as the country continues to grapple with the challenges of a changing climate and the need to reduce our emissions in line with international agreements. The Organic Products and Production Act has also now received Royal Assent. The passing of this legislation is a major opportunity for our country.

Organic regenerative farmers around New Zealand are leading the way. They are doing this by lowering their environmental footprint through organic regenerative farm practice, whilst also commanding a premium price in domestic and international markets through organic certification. We believe that greater political support for the transition to organic food and farming, while embracing regenerative practices, can deliver the best of both worlds. This means lower gross emissions and environmental impact, whilst upholding the best possible price for farm produce.

As political parties prepare for this year’s general election, we implore you to champion support for the organic regenerative transition. Trading partners such as the European Union and United States are already moving in this direction. They have clear targets and incentives from the government.

The Global Shift to Environmental Leadership Through Organics

The return on organic produce is higher than for conventional. This premium is based on consumer concern for environmentally sustainable food, and trust in organic certification which is a globally recognised and regulated system.

The EU provides funding for organic transition, with a goal to have 25% of the EU’s agricultural land area under organic management by 2030. The United States recently announced $300m for organic transition.

Organic regenerative farms across New Zealand are a largely untapped resource when it comes to climate change and the environment. It is time to create a more open and meaningful exchange of knowledge between the organic and conventional sectors for the benefit of the environment and society. This work requires leadership and resourcing from all sides, including politicians and the government.

Lowering Our Carbon Intensity

The prohibition of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer on organic farms alone makes their carbon footprint significantly different from conventional counterparts.

Between 1991 and 2019, the amount of nitrogen applied to New Zealand soil increased by 629%. When soil microbes consume nitrogen, they also consume a proportional amount of carbon, potentially emitting more GHGs. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers also cause more nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2) to be emitted from soil.

Although nitrous oxide emissions occur on nearly all farms to some degree, organic farms in Europe were found to emit 40% less than comparable conventional farms. Techniques commonly used by organic farmers, including manure composting, have been shown in Europe to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide by 50% and methane by 70%.

Policy to Support Environmental Leadership on Farms

To advance this vital opportunity we are calling on politicians and the government to:

  1. Fund targeted research on organic farm management and climate emissions,
  2. Give incentives and support for regenerative farmers to obtain organic certification, such as bridging finance or grants to cover certification (typically over three years),
  3. Ensure ongoing structural funding for organic sector organisations to deliver extension and support for organic growers and businesses and conventional farmers wishing to convert to organics.

We would be happy to supply more information on any of the points raised in this letter,

Yours sincerely

Marion Wood

Chairperson, the Soil & Health Association of New Zealand

A PDF version of the letter can be accessed here.

Soil & Health joins call for immediate action on farming emissions

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The Soil & Health Association is joining other environmental groups calling for immediate action to tackle farming emissions. 

Consultation on the government’s draft Emissions Reduction Plan closes today and environmental groups are united in calling for stronger action.

“It’s unacceptable that agriculture, our largest emitting sector, is the least developed and most poorly explained aspect of the Emissions Reduction Plan,” says Jenny Lux, organic farmer and deputy chair of the Soil & Health Association. 

“Too much emphasis is put on finding new technologies. Let’s use the tools we already have. More can be done, and sooner, by supporting a faster transition to regenerative organic farming.

“The Emissions Reduction Plan needs to identify a pathway to transform agriculture, with clear direction and support for immediately available solutions like organics.

“Pricing farm emissions is the key government policy right now, and for this reason agriculture must enter the Emissions Trading Scheme from 2022.

“Limits on synthetic nitrogen and imported feed are also needed as signals that we need to change our farming systems.

“Ultimately the New Zealand Government must adopt a target for increasing regenerative organic production. 

“Organics have global recognition as a low-emission and environmentally friendly farming system. International markets are moving quickly to increase organic production to reduce emissions and because global consumers are voting with their wallets.”

Our submission on the Emissions Reduction Plan is available to read here:
https://soilandhealth.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Emissions-Reduction-Plan-submission-Soil-and-Health-November-2021.pdf

Submission of the Soil & Health Association on the Emissions Reduction Plan

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Our submission focuses on agriculture and organic waste and states that more can be done, sooner, by supporting a faster transition to regenerative organic farming. 

Emissions from organic waste and from agriculture can be reduced through conversion of farming to regenerative organic systems alongside better organic waste collection and processing for composting and soil-building.  

To do this the government needs to prioritise support for existing available solutions such as organics rather than focusing on new technologies. We agree that rural extension services, research and better waste regulation are key tools to deliver this change.    

Read our full submission here.

Submission on Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill

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INTRODUCTION

The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand is the largest membership organisation supporting organic food and farming in New Zealand and one of the oldest organic organisations in the world, established in 1941. The Association receives no government or other official support, nor is it sponsored or supported by any commercial organisation, political party, religion or other vested interest.

With every year that passes the vision of Soil and Health of an organic New Zealand becomes more relevant, more imperative, and in fact, more mainstream. The maxim of the organisation is “Oranga nuku – Oranga kai – Oranga tāngata, Healthy Soil – Healthy Food – Healthy People”. This extends into the sphere of climate change, as healthy, living soil is potentially the most important carbon sink our planet has. For planetary health (and therefore our own health) not only must we stop the burning of fossil fuels, but we must change our actions so as to sequester the existing carbon from the air into soil and biomass. Organic and regenerative[1] production methods, which maximise the accumulation of soil organic matter, are key to sequestering atmospheric carbon and keeping global warming within 1.5ºC.

BACKGROUND SCIENCE

This section is aimed not at outlining the climate crisis, which the Bill recognises, but at highlighting the key role that organic and regenerative agriculture can play in ameliorating climate outcomes.

The degradation of soils from unsustainable “conventional” agriculture has released billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere[2].  It is estimated that the world’s cultivated soils have lost between 50 and 70 percent of their original carbon stock[3]. Conventional agricultural methods, such as the use of chemical biocides and fertilisers, heavy mechanical tillage, mono-cropping and overgrazing, have killed or rendered ineffective a multitude of living organisms within soils, leading to the oxidation of soil organic carbon and its release in gaseous forms. Although classed as “conventional” and therefore normal, these methods of agriculture are new, having arisen only since the “Green Revolution” after the Second World War. In 2019 we have enough evidence that these new ways cannot be continued if we are to survive.

According to soil scientists, at current rates of soil destruction (i.e. decarbonisation, erosion, desertification, chemical pollution), within 50 years we will not only suffer further serious damage to public health due to a qualitatively degraded food supply, but we will literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves[4]. Without protecting and regenerating our arable soils and grazing lands, it will be impossible to feed the world adequately and keep global warming below 1.5ºC.

So we come back to the key focus of the Soil and Health Association: how to grow food in such a way that soil, human and overall planetary health are supported? There is a growing body of research and many examples, from within NZ[5] and from overseas[6], showing how to manage land profitably to meet human needs, while sequestering carbon. These carbon farming methods have been largely ignored as we scramble for solutions to the global climate catastrophe that faces us. For too long, the focus of NZ government has been on offsetting carbon emissions from conventional agriculture by purchasing overseas carbon credits, or planting monocultures of pine trees to sequester carbon within NZ. Of course, we are all in favour of planting more trees, however this does to some extent detract from the opportunities that exist in pastoral, silvopastoral and arable systems. NZ needs to move more urgently in the direction of changing agriculture through appropriate policy and regulation, rather than avoiding the necessary change to appease strong vested interests or maintain lucrative but unsustainable export industries.

OUR POINTS ON THE BILL ITSELF

There are several positive things about the Bill which we wish to tautoko:

  • We support the Bill’s objective of limiting warming to 1.5ºC. This target should definitely be embedded in the law, and to do anything less would be ineffective.
  • We support the creation of a framework for five-yearly emissions budgets, providing both short term and long term certainty about how to achieve our reduction targets. The framework for these budgets makes it clear that NZ needs to respond through real reductions, with tight conditions around the use of offshore credits.
  • We support the establishment of an independent Climate Change Commission. This will be essential for ensuring robust advice on what our emissions budgets should be and how to stay within them.
  • We support the requirement for NZ to start planning now for climate change adaptation.

Having said this, we believe the Bill has not gone far enough. To limit warming to 1.5ºC, New Zealand has a limit on our total remaining greenhouse gas emissions. Our pathway to net-zero must stay below this limit. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says this pathway requires carbon emissions to halve by 2030 and reach zero before 2050. Aotearoa New Zealand has the tools to achieve deep emission reductions in the next decade, as long as we have the legislation to back them.

We want this Bill to ensure an emissions pathway that limits our contribution to warming to no more than 1.5ºC. The Climate Commission must ensure we are on the right path, acknowledging New Zealand’s historical emissions. The Bill in its current state will not ensure our contribution to limiting warming to 1.5ºC.

Therefore we wish to propose the following revisions to strengthen its effectiveness:

  • The 2050 target is explicitly referred to in the Bill, but there needs to be an interim target for non-methane gases of a 50% reduction of 2017 levels by 2030.
  • There should be a requirement for the Climate Commission to determine New Zealand’s total remaining carbon emissions to meet the 1.5ºC target, accounting for historical emissions, by 31 December 2021.
  • There need to be more clear timeframes for the government to make plans to meet future budgets.
  • Section 5ZJ must be removed to allow the court to take other steps to remedy ineffective budgets.
  • There needs to be a change to Section 5ZK so that government bodies must take targets and carbon budgets into account when making other decisions. The law must require that there be a whole of government approach. We can increase accountability by making this enforceable through Judicial Review. The public deserves to be able to hold decision makers to account.
  • This Act should trump the Resource Management Act, which currently does not allow climate change to be considered when issuing resource consents. Climate change should be an overriding consideration like Te Titiri o Waitangi, or human rights legislation, not “just another thing” to consider (and then write off).
  • There should be a gross emissions limit, and a limit to how much emissions can be offset. Under the current wording, all long lived gases (e.g. CO2) could be entirely offset by planting trees without actually having to reduce emissions. This has been New Zealand’s policy for many years, and has led to our current state of emissions: 65% above 1990 levels. Note that the EU’s policy is “at least 40%” below 1990 levels by 2030 and it looks like it will make it.  Tree planting as a mechanism to offset emissions should be a last resort and this should be recognised in the legislation, e.g. no more than 30% of the obligation may be offset with forestry, with this percentage reducing every year. All trees planted as a carbon sink will carry a future liability to pay back the credits if they are felled, effectively locking up the land for future generations.
  • There should be a prohibition of the use of international credits to promote long-term certainty and accountability.
  • Regarding the biogenic methane emissions target, the mention of “at least a 24% – 47% reduction in methane” means we could go further than this goal by 2050. We would like to see a faster reduction earlier.  Instead of “10% less than 2017 emissions by the calendar year beginning on 1 January 2030” we think this figure should be should be at least 20% below 2017 levels by 2030.  Measured over the first 20 years, methane is 86 times more powerful and damaging than carbon dioxide, therefore we need to focus on reducing biogenic methane emissions more strongly.  Methane is NZ’s biggest chance to make a difference quickly. The 2050 methane target needs to be consistent with the 1.5ºC limit to global warming.
  • Agricultural representation on the Climate Change Commission should move to those with experience with proven sustainable organic and regenerative agro-ecological systems approaches.  While the Soil & Health Association welcomes technological innovation to address climate change we need to take a precautionary approach to new and unproven interventions in agriculture.
  • Action plans should ensure that emissions reduction measures do not compromise the protection of indigenous ecosystems.
  • There should be clauses in the Act that properly honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand wishes to speak to its submission.

 

NZ EXAMPLES OF ORGANIC AND REGENERATIVE FARMS

Biofarm, Palmerston North  https://www.facebook.com/pg/BiofarmOrganic/

Bostock’s Organic Free Range Chicken, Hastings https://bostocksorganic.co.nz/

Field to Feast Organics, Christchurch http://www.canterburyorganic.org.nz/field-to-feast-organics/

Grow Together Farm, Rotorua https://www.growtogetherfarm.co.nz/

Harts Creek Farm, Canterbury, http://www.hartscreekfarm.co.nz/

Kotare Village, Wairoa http://kotarevillage.org.nz/regenerative-agriculture/

Lawson’s True Earth, Hastings  https://trueearth.co.nz/

Lux Organics, Rotorua https://www.luxorganics.co.nz/

Mangarara Station, “The Family Farm”, Hawkes Bay https://www.mangarara.co.nz/

Milmore Downs, North Canterbury http://www.milmoredowns.co.nz/

Puramahoi Fields, Takaka https://www.puramahoifields.com/

Pikiroa Farm, Te Awamutu

Rainer Ramharter, Lincoln, Canterbury https://www.facebook.com/Ramharter-Organic-Farm-575814699192206/

Six Toed Fox Organics, Tauranga https://www.sixtoedfoxorganics.co.nz/

Spring Collective Organics, South Canterbury https://www.facebook.com/springcollectiveorganics/

Winiata Dairy Farm, Rotorua  winiatat@farmside.co.nz, 07 333 2139.

 

[1] As coined and defined by the Rodale Institute https://rodaleinstitute.org/

[2] https://www.onpasture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Lal-Soil-carbon-sequestration-to-mitigate-climate-change.pdf

[3] https://e360.yale.edu/features/soil_as_carbon_storehouse_new_weapon_in_climate_fight

[4] https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/?fbclid=IwAR219PNjLCveGhUgdavaefaXNVjrB4DJfik2NN441hwf-lURgj9zkaCjkS0

[5] See the end of this document for a list of organic and regenerative NZ farms.

[6] Toensmeier, E. 2016. The Carbon Farming Solution – A Global Tookit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security. Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont, U.S.A.

Climate change

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Agriculture, poorly executed, is one of the largest contributors to climate change. In Aotearoa New Zealand nearly 50% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by agriculture. Agriculture can contribute to climate change through the use of synthetic fertilisers, which tend to burn up carbon in the soil, destabilize soil microbe populations and release nitrous oxide. This adds to nutrient deficient, unhealthy, pesticide dependent plants and animals, greater fossil fuel use in transportation, and the release of CO2 into the atmosphere from soil degradation and erosion. Organic agriculture however can work to mitigate climate change through:

Reducing greenhouse gases, especially the release of CO2 from the soil, by avoiding high synthetic soluble nitrogen fertilisers and minimising nutrient losses.

Sequestering carbon in soil and plant biomass by building organic matter in soil, encouraging a greater use of trees and perennial plants, and protecting and enhancing indigenous ecosystems.

Minimising energy consumption by eliminating the energy required in manufacturing synthetic fertilisers, and by reducing reliance on external inputs, by using internal farm inputs as much as possible, thus reducing fuel used for manufacture and transport.

Minerals such as lime, magnesium and trace elements that provide the mineral balance and amounts needed for microbial, root and humus growth, which is fundamental for building healthy soils and sequestering carbon.

Reducing methane emissions from ruminant animals by having lower stock density and by planting high-tannin species such as birdsfoot trefoil, and deep-rooted herbs that recycle minerals with natural efficiency, which in turn reduce methane emissions from stock that eat them.

Using agro-ecological systems that implement crop and stock rotation systems, with Holistic Management which build healthy soils, healthy plants and healthy livestock.

The Soil & Health Association believes it is possible to rapidly and profitably transform Aotearoa New Zealand agriculture from a net emitter of greenhouse gases to net sequesterer. Soil & Health commits to providing education and information to farmers on approaches to grazing and cultivation and agroforestry/farm forestry that will quickly turn NZ agriculture into a net sequesterer of atmospheric carbon in the form of long-term humus in productive, profitable soils and sustainable woodlots.

We are committed to:

Supporting organic farming and land-use practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work to mitigate climate change.

Encouraging appropriate organic agriculture practices that sequester carbon in soil and plant biomass such as taller grass grazing, agro-forestry, cover cropping, mixed cropping, food forests and urban gardens.

Supporting small-scale and local food production and consumption to reduce emissions released through transportation.

 We believe that organic agriculture:

Is part of the solution to climate change.

Can and should form the basis of national governmental policies and common farming practices to reverse climate change.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes