Climate Change Minister James Shaw said other farms should look to get "ahead" of regulations

Climate Change Minister James Shaw says farmers up and down the country should look to get a head start on regulations by fighting climate change and pollution now.

Visiting the Kaiwaiwai dairy farm in the Wairarapa, Shaw remarked on how far many farms had already come.

Kaiwaiwai is one of 370 best practice operations promoted by DairyNZ. It features efficient effluent management, a halving of shed water use, and a built wetland area that processed up to 95 per cent of nitrate runoff - all while remaining profitable.

HENRY COOKE/STUFF Climate Change Minister James Shaw with farm co-owner Vern Brasell.

"They're doing things here to do with making sure that the waterways aren't polluted, they're looking at how do they bring down the greenhouse gas emissions, they are looking at things like generation solar power on farm - a whole range of things to really get ahead of the game," Shaw said.

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He suggested that other farms across the country look to best practice operations like Kaiwaiwai for a way forward.

HENRY COOKE/STUFF James Shaw says climate change is affecting farmers pretty strongly through droughts and storms.

"What you want to do is to get ahead of the regulation, because you know that that is changing, and will continue to change over time, the more you can get in advance of that the less cost it will have down the track," Shaw said.

Greenhouse gases are the primary cause of human-influenced climate change, which is likely to cause drastic changes to food production, coastlines, and weather in coming decades.

Agricultural emissions make up the bulk of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions profile, but are not part of the Emissions Trading Scheme. This is one of the major reasons the country has seen its per capita emissions trend up while countries like the UK have seen their's trend down.

HENRY COOKE/STUFF James Shaw, right, is shown the artificial wetland.

"The thing that is obvious is that climate change is affecting us, it's affecting farmers pretty strongly through droughts and storms, and that New Zealand has a role to play in fixing that," Shaw said.

But that didn't necessarily mean agriculture would head into the Emissions Trading Scheme. The new Government is setting up a non-partisan Climate Change Commission which would set the framework and suggest rules to get New Zealand to zero net emissions by 2050 - including advice on whether or not agriculture should be put into the Emissions Trading Scheme.

An interim version of that group should be set up this year.

Shaw said getting an independent idea of what to do could help the country get through what was often a contentious and bitterly partisan fight.

"Because it is such a contentious point for New Zealand, having the climate change commission examine that question from a scientific and economic position - from a politically independent position, is one that I think is important to make sure that whatever making sure that whatever that recommendation is is well-supported across the community, no matter your political affiliation."

Farm co-owner Vern Brasell said a clear path ahead from Government would be key to taking the industry along.

"I think you need to understand what's coming so whatever you are doing will fit in with that," Brasell said.

"A lot of it low hanging fruit."

His roughly 1ha of artificial wetland removed 95 per cent of nitrate runoff, which pollutes rivers, during the summer months. Some of the costs were met with a sustainable farming grant on offer from the Government.

DairyNZ senior policy advisor Kara Lok said farmers should see the change as an opportunity rather than a risk.

"This is another area where we can get ahead of the game, and obviously there is a market side here too - where we can say 'this is our clean green product," Lok said.

She said the animosity from the farming community towards the now-Governing parties during the election was a result of uncertainty.

"What we are really asking for from the Government is some certainty so we can work out what our pathway looks like."

Shaw said he understood some nervousness from farmers towards change, and emphasised a view that Kiwis should see it as a New Zealand-wide issue to be fixed.