4 | RURAL PEOPLE » Simon Davies Emissions tax dilemma for farmers Simon Davies (at right) farms at the mouth of the Tokomairiro River near Milton with wife Joanna and two daughters Georgina (8) and Juliet (5). Georgina and Juliet on the back of the side by side (below). Russell Fredric Every drop means quite a lot when it’s from Peters Genetics CLAYTON PETERS 03 204 8817 027 222 4421 TERS MORGAN PE 03 204 8849 027 440 7411 JUSTINWALLIS 03 976 6509 027 225 8330 For all your Livestock cartage requirements give us a call. PO BOX 128, BALCLUTHA 9240 PHONE 03-417 8485 · PHONE 0800-101 333 · FAX 03-417 8488 PHONE (03) 444-4737 · RD3 Ranfurly 9397 TRANSPORT (HYDE) Although self-described as a ‘lunatic for work’, former Federated Farmers Otago president Simon Davies likes to work as smart as possible. He and his wife Joanna have lived on their 750 hectare home farm at the mouth of the Tokomairiro River near Milton since 2011. The couple have two girls, Georgina, 8, and Juliet, 5. In 2020 they added to their home farm a 400 hectare lease block which has needed a lot of improvement. The block currently carries around 3600 stock units while the home farm carries 5500 to 6000 stock units comprising 350 dairy heifers wintered from May to May, 5000 Wairere breeding ewes and 1200 hoggets. The original Kelso ock on the home block was swapped out for Wairere stock. Seventy Angus breeding cows have also been carried, but these will be off-loaded to accommodate more pine plantings for carbon credits, in addition to the existing 100ha and six or seven kilometres already planted for shelter belts. Considerable investment has been made in infrastructure on the home farm including double fencing seven kilometres of stock race, new cattle yards, general fencing upgrades and upgraded electricity and water supply. Simon completed all the fencing, but has contractors do most other work which means he has just one full-time worker, who was employed more recently. “One of the reasons I’ve (employed someone) is up until I started off-farm activities I was pretty much running the place on my own reasonably comfortably. “I’m a bit of a lunatic for work, but I get contractors to come and do my shearing, tailing and crutching. I do what I can with contractors, all my cultivating is done with contractors.” Although the farm is coastal, it includes rolling to steep hill country which is ideal for pine trees and during the past three years some of the steeper faces have been planted to gain carbon credits. “When we came here there was about 75 hectares of pine. We’ve now got 100 and I’ve committed another 30 hectares to go into pines this winter.” Simon is planning to plant another 100 hectares next year, but the income from the carbon credits creates a moral dilemma, he says. “If I planted it all in trees my growth turnover would nearly double and my pro t would go up nearly tenfold. That’s not selling timber, that’s just selling carbon credits at $100 a tonne.” Simon is effectively being forced to plant trees to mitigate the cost of taxes driven by the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership, He Waka Eke Noa, which was established to price agricultural greenhouse emissions through the emissions trading scheme. “At the moment we are only having to pay for 5% of our emissions. That is progressively ramping up so by 2030 we will be paying for 10% of our emissions and it correspondingly ratchets up every year. “The dilemma I have is I’m basically being asked to reduce my stocking rate by 10% per year.” Issues like this and the torrent of government policy farmers are facing is frustrating and extremely taxing, but the work undertaken on their behalf by Federated Farmers is amazing, Simon says. “Federated Farmers policy team are unbelievable and in my opinion they are the best policy people in the sector. “They do truckloads of work, but they are extremely challenged by the volumes of legislation that’s owing out of central government at the moment.”
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