Resilient local economies
This blogpost outlines what has happened recently in China’s economy and the consequences for the NZ dairy industry. And, because we are so ridiculously dependent on our dairy exports, for the NZ economy.
So are we going to get degrowth by disaster and not by design? Possibly. The price farmers get for their milk is dropping fast. Farmers are really worried, especially those with a lot of debt.
New Zealand is incredibly dependent on its primary industry sector for revenue so I thought it worth looking at the current situation. If we are proposing that we reduce our dairy in order to reduce our methane and nitrous oxide emissions, it has export revenue consequences. If we say some appropriate land should be repurposed for growing more plant foods, then it might pay us to look at the revenue we currently receive from our primary sector. Continue reading “Repurposing some agricultural land for horticulture has revenue consequences”
In New Zealand we all know that agricultural emissions are the second biggest sector at 48%. We have a big beef and dairy sector, the latter having expanded into dry regions once irrigation became available. These areas are entirely unsuitable for dairy conversions. Continue reading “What if New Zealand farmers grew less meat and dairy for the climate’s sake?”
