Yesterday, Minister for Agriculture Damien O'Connor announced the Government is spending $9 million on 27 students, at a PhD or post-doctoral level, to work on research and development of a national agricultural greenhouse gas capability plan.

Groundswell NZ spokesperson Bryce McKenzie says:

“Ministers O’Connor, Parker, and Shaw are running up quite a tab for the taxpayers of New Zealand. The huge bill would be easier to stomach if we could see the investments resulting in meaningful improvements, but none of these bright ideas have led to a single advancement in technology or knowledge usable on our farms.

“The $9 million academic fund announced today is on top of the $27 million announced by Minister Shaw at the end of last year for a Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions and the $200 million he tells us has been spent on research and development of agricultural emissions in the last dozen years or so.

“Imagine if a fraction of that spend had gone towards upgrading New Zealand's infrastructure and ensuring our communities adapt and become resilient to catastrophic weather events, such as Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We farmers are practical people by necessity and there is nothing practical about throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at students in big city universities when the solutions to improving farming are likely to be found on farms.”