Hi guys. Whilst I am supposed to be semi retired I am pretty hard out over the back fence repairing fences on a 1300 cow property with some new 1-2 wire around drains etc. I had a snigger to my self last week, when the manager stopped for talk. He had just got back from the duck pond. There was a Tangi being held at the Local Marae, and the contractor pumping out the effluent pond found a hinaki pegged to the bank and full of eels. Yep the locals claimed them, they are supposed to ask first, because of occupational health and safety and all that stuff, but no they just chucked it in. Of course they believe they still own the land, never selling it, just leasing it out and still able to determine how it is to be used. Just like Diane Cringles MfE paper , Ideas for the implementation of sec 6 matters. I have reported on this before.
Carbon looks set to head past $25 a ton . It is my view that it is a speculator driving it, and that it is the Govt or the IMF. 1.2 million hec of land destined for trees. John Diamond of Land Care was quoted on Stuff .co.nz early last year as saying that in excess of 2 million hec of land through out NZ is more suited to carbon farming than livestock. I cannot disagree with prices up around or better than now.
Jacinda and Winnie Winston are saying it is all on Dept. of Conservation Land and unused Maori Land. Yea right. John Diamonds 2 million hec is a area the size of Horizons Regional Councils region ,and I am betting that it is this region that will see the most. I am just waiting for the Whanganui Treaty Settlement to be finalized and Bobs your uncle.
My big bitch is that there is no way that NZ,s economy or industrial production is big enough to require yet alone absorb that much carbon. Think of it in terms of 2 tons per tree, x 1.2 billion trees and you get my jist. Are we to become the rubbish dump to the world, or is the market sooner or later going to rebalance to reflect that over supply? Carbon is just a loan. nothing more, so great you say, but the problem is that it is not a sustainable land use. Pine trees on steep land become a environmental hazard, falling over, and once they get to 50-60 years old start breaking down becoming a financial liability ,plus blocking culverts, washing out bridges and other infrastructure ,cluttering up our beaches. Yep there is a good example in the local paper with local beach goe’rs getting snaky because council is slow cleaning up the mess.
Then there is the social cost. All those displaced residents, farmers ,rural urban people. Where to for them and what will they do? Prison, immigrate, dole. I talked of this before. Plus the additional cost imposed on the consumer as the increased cost of carbon on the internal economy is passed on. You have read it here on this blog with a Australian example.
It is my view that as stated Horizons region will be the most sought after, with Horizons Sustainable Land Use initiative sucking up in excess of 60% of farmed land on hill country. I have reported on this in a previous post. It is not for the protection of vulnerable soils our Local Minister of Parliament ,Mr. Mc Kelvie stated. but for treaty settlements.
This chap wanted to say a few words at our Local Easter Sports meeting back in April. I could not help my self and said something like, (after introducing and welcoming him to the sports) I am really concerned about the current debate around ownership of water and all I see is a big brown cloud coming over that ridge full of water. That I hoped he was thus down in Wellington looking after us and not there just nodding his head ,eating his lunch and holding out his hand on Wednesday. His reply was thus. I get paid on Thursday.
Thinking I may had made a arse of my self ,I was pleasantly surprised with the support I received, and from as far a field as Northland.
So there it is guys. I see the Media are taking the mickey out of Don Brash for his comments, Maori leaders are criticizing Sir William Gallager for his speech. This prompted me to email the editor of the NZ Farmers Weekly, Jon what’s his name. 12 months or more ago I rang him about all this and he invited me to write a article and he would publish it. So I did. He emailed me back saying NO. Far to continuous. God only no’s what he expected from and probably thought I was just a wally and he would make a real prat of me. So after Sir Williams speech I emailed Jon again saying the world is waking up Jon, time Fair Fax media started a bit of good old investigative journalism or did the paper support what is going on? I have not heard back. Hmmm.
Back to the local paper. and the Horowhenua Mail in particular, yes there it is pg 3 perilous drift wood blockade, , the Chronical reports on misguided complainants prattling on about gravel abstraction, in the Ohau river and how that drop kick, Dr Mike (Kill) Joy from Massy Uni recon’s it is from Hill country farms, and they all need to be planted in trees.
The Farmers Weekly this last month seems full of the rot we have become used to ,pg 20 Dr Bert Quinn cannot get his new Nitrogen Inhibitor over the line ,seems opponents in Fonterra and the Fert company’s are doubtful of his claims. Surprise surprise. Beef and Lamb are complaining about a inaccurate article John McCarthy wrote previously , yep John spot on ,and I voted to disestablish the organization, seen to much nonsense from that organization and yes they are hard out pushing Land Use Change via environmental farm plans. There is another chap, a Mr. Phil Vine, Green Peace saying, plant veggie’s and eat tube meat and all will be fine and over the ridge Steve Wyn-Harris claims the world is flat.
In the New Zealand farmers Weekly last month Foresters want more trees, and claim Land use Change must be forced on farmers so as to push down the price of land so they can plant more trees. The forester sector did not own enough non forested land to meet the Govts new target of a billion trees over 10 years and could only be met by Land Use Change to trees. Peter Clark. Chair of the forest owners association.
Another Farmers Weekly is promoting Barns for Dairy Cows, as a way of becoming sustainable, shame about the cost and the risk of disease..
So there it is guys, Barns, trees and veggies. You decide..