We are at a critical juncture in the effort to overcome climate change and ensure that everyone has access to good, local food in the future. The Climate Change Commission has said that New Zealand's current efforts aren't enough to keep global heating to the crucial limit of 1.5C, and so the government is deciding how climate ambition can be stepped up.

The ONLY way for New Zealand to play our part and keep 1.5C in reach is if the government does more to transform agriculture, responsible for 48% of New Zealand's climate pollution, and support farmers to transition to sustainable food production.

But the successive governments have failed to put a price on agricultural pollution, and instead propped up an intensive system that treats farms like factories, loading the land with cows and chemicals that it can’t sustain, polluting waterways and making methane pollution skyrocket. 

Ahead of COP26, critical global climate change talks in November, the government is planning what New Zealand will do to cut climate pollution by 2030. This is an opportunity to reset in balance with the land, and support farmers to transition to farming in a way which works with nature to rebuild soil, clean up waterways, bring back wildlife and store carbon as they grow great food. It’s an opportunity to tackle our biggest polluting industry and ensure that communities on the frontlines of climate change have the opportunity to grow food for their future too.

But it requires bolder targets, price incentives, and government support for farmers to transition.

Call on the government to help farmers feed a climate-friendly future by transforming agriculture so that New Zealand can step up it's climate action!