The Country 14/10/25: Kate Acland talks to Hamish McKay

Beef + Lamb NZ’s chairwoman is in Balclutha for roadshows today. We ask for her thoughts on the government’s new methane reduction target and the proposed Gene Technology Bill.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're heading now to Aboukluth where the Farmer Council Council
and your meeting happening for Beef and Lamb.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kate Eckland, Good afternoon.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Kate hi heyris nice to talk again.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yes, indeed as also so soon now the fourteen to
twenty four percent methane cut by twenty fifty.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Where is the position of Beef and Lamb on this?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh, look, it's incredibly positive. It's a really great move.
But I think most importantly the assurance that there will
be no pricing on our emissions. That's the big news
and that's something that can give farmers, I suppose confidence
to invest in businesses and just move forward and move
on from this.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
What are you hearing already in the last twenty four
hours from farmers as a reaction to this, Look.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's been largely positive. I'm not going to say overwhelmingly positive.
There's always some farmers there have of you that there
should be no targets at all, but the set we've
got confirmation that there'll be no pricing at all, and
also there was the assurance that the government's going to
look at taking a split gas approach to our NDCs.

(01:09):
In future is another really positive thing.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Those that want the zero present. What about the fourteen
to twenty four percent? Is that still going to be challenging.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, in the upper end of that range, world be challenging,
but you know, I'm really confident with efficiency gains. There's
toolment technologies coming that farmers can choose to use. I
think we'll get there. I'm not going to say it's
going to be simple, but look at the lower end,
I think that should be fairly easy, and the upper
end is absolutely doable. I mean, the Shed and B

(01:39):
sect has got this phenomenal productivity and efficiency gain story.
Over the last thirty years, we've almost halved our sheet numbers,
but we've almost maintained the kilograms of products we're sending overseas.
So you know, that's a really great story and we
can keep doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Just had Damian O'Connor on and trying to, you know,
suggest that there's a comparison between had the previous levels
gone through for twenty fifty, that it'll be similar to
what happened in ninety eighties with the removal of the
smps and.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
We recovered our production.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
What about the fifteen or twenty years of how it
followed that, I think he's missed the point.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Look, I think he's absolutely missed the point. And you know,
we know under what was proposed with her Walker Recono,
we were looking at losing sort of twenty percent of
our sheep and beef farms and six or seven percent
of our dairy farms. And it's not a great outcome
for New Zealand. So you know, I think we need
to keep coming back to the fact this is a
it's pragmatic, it's achievable, and it's actually a really good
outcome for New Zealand because New Zealand needs the economic

(02:42):
powerhouse that is the primary.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Septor absolutely it does backbone of the country. Right now
now the gene Tech bill. What a farm has been
feeling on this one? Where's the stance of beef and lamb?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, you know, the announcement that was made or the
report was yesterday. We're still digesting that. We know that
that farmers are quite mixed on this. You know, there
is there's potentially some significant opportunities, but there's some significant
risks as well. And I guess we've been very frustrated
the whole way through it. How quickly. This has been
pushed through the lack of consultation with farmers and the

(03:17):
lack of time for farmers and actually the general public
just to understand those opportunities and those risks and make
a really sort of informed decision or an informed submission
on the issue. So you know, we will continue to
push for getting it right. It's a really major thing
and we need to take the time to get it right.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, but a water to go under the bridge on
this one. What sort of day is it in bow Cluther.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's a beautiful day in bow Clother. Actually I got
here this morning and the first thing I did was
have a cheese roll and admire the river.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh stop it, bow Cluther on a beautiful day. Cheese
roll and fantastic.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Hey, we won't keep you your busy person, and you've
flat out down there with the Farmer Council Annual meeting.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Much appreciated. There we go, That is Kate Ackland.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
There