Greenpeace have shown they are nothing but an anti-farming lobby group by criticising Fonterra’s new on-farm emissions targets, says Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford.

“Yesterday Fonterra announced that they plan to reduce their emissions intensity 30% by 2030, but before the dust had even settled Greenpeace were climbing into them,” Langford says.

“These are ambitious and credible targets that have been designed using the internationally recognised and independent Science Based Target initiative.”

The Science Based Target initiative helps companies set clearly defined and scientifically robust plans to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals.

“Kiwi farmers are already the most carbon-friendly farmers in the world, and Fonterra’s new target is asking them to go even further,” Langford says.

“True environmentalists should be welcoming such strong leadership from New Zealand farmers who are doing their best, but instead Greenpeace were the first to criticise.

“Nothing Fonterra could have announced would have been good enough for Greenpeace because they’re anti-farmer and anti-science.

“They’re totally fixated on an impractical plan to half the herd and to ban fertiliser, but that’s completely out of touch with what most Kiwis want.

“New Zealanders liked Greenpeace a lot more when they stuck to saving whales. They should get back to that and stop slagging off our world-leading farmers,” Langford concluded.