Farmers will pay $50 per head Carbon Tax to Gov for every cow sold

G'day,

Today I'm publishing an email Agmates received from Mal Peters. Mal is the Immediate Past President of the NSW Farmers Association.

What are the various farm lobby groups around the country doing about this? Why isn't the issue even on the National Farmers Federation agenda?

Let me tell you, if the NFF is not defending your interests - NO ONE IS!

This is either a total DISGRACE or a HUGE SCANDAL or both.

Cheers - Your Agmate Steve.

P.S. Email your comments to trumanlivestock@bigpond.com and I'll publish them for you or leave a comment at the bottom of the article.

P.S.S. Email this to your friends by click on the envelope at the bottom of the article.
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From: Mal & Anne Peters [mailto:@.com]
Sent: 05/03/2007 10:19 PM
To: 'Truman Livestock'

Subject: RE: Read This - Take Action - or Suffer The Consequences

Steve

I wonder how cattle producers will feel about paying $50.00 per head to Government for every cow they sell.

Cows emit through enteric fermentation (burping and farting) methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 17 times more lethal than carbon. Farmers emit 26% of Australia’s emissions, 60% of which is by cows and sheep.

Farmers must understand the risk this National Emission trading scheme is to our industry.

Particularly as farmers have no capacity to offset emission through carbon trading because Australia set a zero cap on Article 3.4 of Kyoto.

The Australian Government performed the greatest cost shift in Australia’s history.

Stopping Broad scale land clearing cost agriculture $600million per year and that reduction in carbon emissions has allowed the energy sector to increase emissions by 60% at no cost.

They then through bi-lateral agreements with state Governments forced them to implement the stopping of clearing

Do cattle producers feel confident the Australian Government will protect our interests after they abused us on Land clearing?

What you are doing here on Agmates is very important. The Australian Government has to be flushed out on the issue.

I asked Federal Minister for Agriculture Peter McGauran the following questions in last weeks Land newspaper.

1. If Australia ratified the Kyoto protocol on the basis of Australia’s existing agreements, could additional carbon sequestered in Australia’s agricultural soils as a result of changed land use be included as part of Australia’s greenhouse inventory, or utilised as an offset credit within a Kyoto compatible national emission trading scheme?

2. If there was a detailed assessment of the likely effect on Australia of including emission/sequestration under Article 3.4, will that assessment be made public? and

3. Has the Commonwealth Government carried out an assessment of the economic value of the emission reductions achieved by the agricultural sector as a consequence of banning land clearing, and will agriculture be given full credit for this in a future national emissions trading scheme?

I hope your readers can extract the answer to my questions through their local Federal Coalition member.

Keep up the pressure.

Mal Peters
Immediate Past President of NSW Farmers Association.