Give us your food …

One of the great benefits of going overseas on business is that it lets you see the issues we face from the perspective of others.

Recently, as a guest of the International Plant Nutrition Institute I presented a paper to a conference in Brazil, and during gaps in the programme and in the evenings I fell into discussion with other participants as to what were our respective ‘hot’ agricultural issues.

While greenhouse gas emissions were a common area of concern, what surprised others was our decision to include on-farm emissions in our Emissions Trading Scheme.

Yes, they agreed each country should play its part and accept the logic of including agriculture’s processing and manufacturing emissions – but they were surprised that alone among counties we were forging ahead with on-farm restrictions.

They pointed out that it might ultimately reduce food production, that 15 percent of the world’s population already has inadequate access to food supplies and that, if the world’s projected population in 20 years time is to be fed, food production will have to increase by 40 percent.

They ran the line that the world needed our food – and the more we could produce the better - more desperately than it needed what will in reality be a miniscule cut in global emissions.

I found it hard to fault their logic, but it’s not an argument that will have legs in New Zealand as we move towards setting our emission goals.

Perhaps it’s because we are a lucky country that will never have to worry about producing adequate food supplies to feed our people. Perhaps you have to look hunger in the face to help you order priorities.

Hilton