Fart are taxed, how is this happen?
Protests by farmers across New Zealand have taken to the streets on tractors to protest the government's plans to tax cow burps and farts.
Last week, the government proposed a new farm tax as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The government says it will be a world first, and farmers should be able to recoup costs by charging more for climate-friendly products.
Agriculture is indeed one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand, more than half, with 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep. This number far exceeds New Zealand's population of only 5 million people.
Methane gas from cows belching and farting makes a huge contribution.
Farmers argue the proposed tax would actually increase global greenhouse gas emissions by shifting agriculture to countries that are less efficient at making food.
At the protest in Wellington, one farmer, Dave McCurdy, said farmers are good stewards of the environment.
"This is our life, our family's life," he said. "We're not out there destroying it, we're not going to make any money. We love our farms," ??he said.
He said the proposed tax did not take into account all the trees and shrubs he and other farmers planted, which helps trap carbon and offset emissions. He said if the proposed tax and livestock reduction continued, it would ruin the lives of many farmers.
Agriculture is very important to the New Zealand economy. Dairy products, including those used to make infant formula in China, are the country's biggest export earner.
McCurdy said farmers were almost alone in keeping the economy afloat during the Covid-19 lockdown, and now that the threat had passed and the recession was looming, the government was 'catching up' on them.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has pledged that her country will be carbon neutral by 2050. Part of the plan includes reducing methane emissions from livestock by 10% by 2030 and up to 47% by 2050.
The government has been working with farmers and other groups to try to come up with emissions plans that they can live with. However, many farmers are dissatisfied with the government's final proposal, while environmentalists say it doesn't go far enough.
