Carbon farming: fighting New Zealand’s agricultural emissions | FT Food Revolution

Agriculture accounts for almost half of greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand. It’s one reason the government is encouraging farmers to grow trees for carbon credits, which can then be sold, mainly to large companies looking to offset their emissions. Juliet Speedy meets a couple of New Zealand’s carbon farmers and explores exactly how the scheme works.
► To learn more, visit our website - foodrevolution.ft.com/
► Watch more videos from this series here - bit.ly/30WT7qx
► Subscribe to our channel - bit.ly/2POLnkE
► Check out our Community tab for more stories on the economy
► Listen to our podcasts: www.ft.com/podcasts
► Follow us on Instagram: / financialtimes

[@Whateverhappened_to_Fay_Wray]

acidic monocultures of Pine usually. Really hope they pursue a transition into more natives under the canopy of the pines that eventually phase them out.

[@cosmichappening1712]

Actually, all pine litter, including those of the native pines, are acidic; and in actual fact, the litter of the Radiata pine is less acidic than that of the native Rimu and Kauri pines, which are two or the most powerful soil acidifiers known.
And what is this bigo-tree against exotic pines and monoculture forests anyway? What are beech forests? Are they not monoculture forests? Little else grows under their canopy other than beech saplings and ferns. If Foresters were to plant vast expanses of land with monoculture forests of native conifers only, would you be against that?
Exotic pines have been here for over a hundred years, and whether we like it or not, they are here to stay. Yes, there will be areas of purely native forests, but there will also be areas of purely exotic and mixed exotic and native forests.

[@Whateverhappened_to_Fay_Wray]

th-cam.com/video/aOP-xnYfhk0/w-d-xo.html

[@dsolis7532]

In Costa Rica we have done something like this since 90s. Meat production in CR is carbon positive thanks to this program :)

[@kathirko]

The whole carbon farming sounds like a confession after committing an irrecoverable sin.
or is it something like blackmail, which evidently they can do but demand money to do it?

[@phil20_20]

"This is a Diameter Tape" - because I can't divide by Pi! 😀🤓

[@MrNeutross]

Time is money, even if it saves him only 5 sec it's worth it when measuring thousands of trees...

[@rubaiyatdunno482]

​@@MrNeutrossdividing by pi takes like a second to two tops my man

[@tparker2095]

Ironic how that farmer was using herbicides to kill the gorse so pines could be planted instead, even though gorse is well-known to be a succession species that fertilizes the soil and regenerates native forest on its own. This is one big ridiculous folly after another.
There are many issues with planting pines for carbon sequestration. It creates a biodiversity nightmare (a forest of just trees and no native habitat), it's costly for farmers to pay for the pine seedlings and planting, the carbon sequestration actually peaks at 25 years and then drops off, and these plantations do not help to conserve native biodiversity that is often threatened in New Zealand.
Native forest (easily regenerated through gorse) is ecologically proper for the region, it preserves biodiversity, creates crucial habitat for Animal, Plant, Insect, and Fungi species, assists in water filtration and long-term carbon sequestration as the forest matures, the seed source is already there for native plants, it creates a food-source for wildlife, nutrient cycling of organic matter creates new topsoils, and land-owners will benefit from long-term carbon credits as the forest grows for decades if not hundreds of years (no reason to harvest the trees).

[@seanfaiers3289]

I couldn't agree more.

[@vbarcodev9714]

Pines do support biodiversity, just not as much as natives. Pines are still good for birds, pigs and most insects. Pines are by far cheaper too plant and by far quicker too grow in a shorter period of time compared to native. Intern sequests more carbon, which is the whole point of the ets. Planting natives is expensive and will take over a decade before you start too see some return.

[@Skybar23]

How bout humans cut down on meat consumption?

[@jamonen919]

They will because less sheep and beef farms will raise the cost of meat

[@blank.9301]

Ecosia 👍🌱🌳

[@chansaicommerce1721]

GO GO !!!

[@michaelkingy355]

🤦🏻‍♂️ a diverse habitats is better, not using herbicide to remove gourse and vegetation to plant a single species of tree.

[@sg305]

Any ground cover sinks carbon...grasses..crops....

[@chansaicommerce1721]

AWESOME

[@jeanlefranc3817]

50 dollars per hectare is not a lot, but it’s a step in the right direction.

[@RowanGontier]

Cinematic, heart-warming.

[@chansaicommerce1721]

COOL

[@levi-jamestemahenotioko5211]

Can't eat trees

[@loganlucas2052]

Can't breathe without them either