Tractor convoys cover streets of New Zealand as farmers protest 'burp tax' levy on animals

Protests by farmers have started to occupy the streets of New Zealand after the country’s government proposed taxing the greenhouse gases that farm animals release during natural processes like burping and excreting.

According to Sky News, farmers have taken to the motorways and towns, driving their tractors and holding banners that read: "Without farmers you will be hungry, naked & sober” and "Don't bite the hand that feeds you.” Over 50 rallies and protests across the country have been organised with the help of lobby group Groundswell New Zealand.

The New Zealand government, in an attempt to curb climate change, plans to impose taxes on the gases with a “first in the world” levy. Nonetheless, it has told farmers that they will able to meet the costs of the tax by charging extra for products that are climate-friendly.

"New Zealand's farmers are set to be the first in the world to reduce agricultural emissions, positioning our biggest export market for the competitive advantage that brings in a world increasingly discerning about the provenance of their food," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier in October. Arden also said that the amount collected from the levy would be used to fund technological advancement, research, and incentive money for farmers.

'Burp tax' levy garners criticism from New Zealand's farming community

On the contrary, New Zealand’s farming industry has said that the tax would dissolve the very goal it aims to achieve. The industry, which farms 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep for five million citizens of New Zealand, argues that the tax would create a surge in greenhouse gas emissions by shifting farming to nations that are inadequately efficient at producing food.

Farmers in New Zealand have tossed aside the plan, with Federated Farmers group stating that it would "rip the guts out of small town New Zealand”.

Andrew Hoggard, the president of the group, further added that farmers had already been working along with the government for two years on a solution that would reduce the gas emissions while simultaneously not causing a decrease in food production. "Our plan was to keep farmers farming," he said, adding that the elevated costs would force the farmers to abandon farming and engage in forestry.