THE National Farmers’ Federation has backed the Coalition's proposed amendments to the Government's emissions trading scheme, saying they make economic and environmental sense for the country, not just farmers.
NFF president David Crombie says the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in its current form "doesn’t work for agriculture".
"When you consider this in the context that the world needs food and fibre now, and that by 2050 there will be 9 billion mouths to feed and bodies to clothe, failure to account for agriculture’s needs would be economically and environmentally irresponsible," Mr Crombie said.
"The NFF has proposed that like Australia’s major competitors, direct emissions from agriculture should be excluded permanently from the CPRS cap.
"While the present legislation does not include agricultural emissions, as Minister [Penny] Wong protests, the intent in the Government’s White Paper is predisposed to coverage.
"We now know through extensive modelling and our global competitors ruling out covering their farm sectors, that covering Australian farming’s direct emissions would be catastrophic for our farmers and the communities and jobs they support.
"The NFF, therefore, supports the Coalition’s amendment on excluding agriculture’s coverage."
Howver, Mr Crombie said agriculture would still have the potential to be a major carbon player.
"The CPRS Bill needs to allow the flexibility for alternative, incentive-driven, market based carbon mitigation mechanisms, such as off-sets, to be recognised from the agriculture sector," he said.
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