{"id":14106,"date":"2020-07-27T10:24:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T22:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/new-zealand\/?p=14106"},"modified":"2025-05-16T07:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T19:49:03","slug":"greenpeace-protesters-blockade-fertiliser-factory-taranaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/greenpeace-protesters-blockade-fertiliser-factory-taranaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace protesters blockade fertiliser factory, Taranaki"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LIVE UDPATES<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Protestors have halted the distribution of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser this morning in Kapuni in Taranaki, citing the chemical\u2019s destructive climate impact. <\/p>\n\n

The Greenpeace activists have locked on to a blockade structure at the entrance to a synthetic fertiliser factory owned by Ballance. They are preventing all trucks from picking up and distributing the \u201cclimate killing\u201d chemical. <\/p>\n\n

\u00a9 Nick Tapp \/ Greenpeace<\/div>” alt=”Greenpeace protestors blockade Balance fertiliser plant in Taranaki
\u00a9 Nick Tapp \/ Greenpeace<\/div>” class=”wp-image-14108″\/>
Greenpeace protestors blockade Balance fertiliser plant in Taranaki
\u00a9 Nick Tapp \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Around half a million tonnes of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is used in New Zealand every year. It\u2019s primarily used by the dairy industry to accelerate grass growth and ramp up cow numbers. Intensive dairying is the country\u2019s biggest climate polluter.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace agriculture campaigner Gen Toop says that it\u2019s past time the Government tackles the climate impact of synthetic fertiliser and too many cows.  <\/p>\n\n

\u201cToday we\u2019re taking matters into our own hands, stopping Ballance from selling the synthetic fertiliser that\u2019s propping up industrial dairying and driving the climate crisis,\u201d Toop says. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already experiencing the floods, droughts and wildfires that will only become more frequent in a hotter and less stable climate. Meanwhile, Ballance makes a killing cooking up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of this climate-wrecking chemical every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Since 1990, synthetic fertiliser use has climbed 672% and in that time the number of dairy cows has nearly doubled, causing greenhouse gas emissions from intensive dairying to soar.<\/p>\n\n

Synthetic fertiliser is a climate pollutant itself, independent of its effect on cattle numbers. When applied to farmland, the chemical emits more than the entire domestic aviation industry. <\/p>\n\n

Toop says, \u201cEveryone deserves a life free from the ravages of an overheated planet. That means that right now, we need fewer cows, and a full phase-out of synthetic fertiliser.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Earlier this year the Government announced a cap on synthetic fertiliser use of 190kg per hectare which will come into force mid next year. Toop says that in the midst of a worsening climate crisis, that new cap simply doesn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cAhead of the election, we\u2019re calling on all political parties to commit to phasing out synthetic fertiliser, and backing farmers to make the shift from intensive dairying into diversified regenerative farming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Ban Synthetic Nitrogen\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Join our call on the NZ Govt to ban chemical nitrogen fertiliser, for the climate and for our rivers.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n SIGN THE PETITION\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\n

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