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QLD state farm organisation warns anti-agriculture activists to stop spreading lies ahead of COP26

Beef Central, 27/10/2021

Queensland state farm organsation AgForce has fired a warning shot at Greenpeace activists, following malicious accusations suggesting that Queensland is a “deforestation hotspot.”

As Australia gears up for COP26, the agriculture industry is pledging to do all it can to further reduce CO2 emissions. However the same cannot be said for Greenpeace and other non-government organisations, including Mongabay and Global Witness, which are instead spending the lead up to the summit spreading lies about agriculture – rather than making their own positive contributions to the climate debate, AgForce says.

AgForce CEO Mike Guerin

Chief executive officer Mike Guerin said he would not allow environmental bandits spouting emotional rhetoric to undo all of agriculture’s good work.

“COP26 represents a seminal moment for Australia and for agriculture,” Mr Guerin said.

“Yet as crunch time approaches, we witness disingenuous individuals sending subjective and misleading questionnaires to multinational companies, fishing for evidence of foul play in our industry that simply doesn’t exist.

“The suggestion from Greenpeace that Queensland is a deforestation hotspot is not only wrong but has come from an institution seemingly hell bent on destroying the agriculture industry and its communities – along with the landscapes our planet so relies on,” Mr Guerin said.

“Along with other anti-agriculture organisations these freebooters are engaging in a dirty game and have left us with no choice but to expose them for the bunglers they are. With so much at stake environmentally, climatically, socially, and economically, we will fight back against lies and deception, using up-to-date science that tells an undeniably good and positive story.”

In one particularly ignorant email to a global producer, Greenpeace blogger Zach Boren states, “many ecologists have called for improved regulation at both a federal and state level to curb the rate of deforestation in Queensland.”

However, he completely overlooked the Government-funded, credible peer reviewed science that shows the strong and ever-increasing contribution agriculture makes to the environment and the carbon challenges imposed upon producers, Mr Guerin said.

He urged Mr Boren to do more research before attempting to skew the facts.

“You only have to look at Kyoto’s COP3 debacle, which saw the Howard Government hit us with a raft of restrictions, to see that agriculture has been forced to do more than its fair share to limit deforestation,” Mr Guerin said.

“We have gone above and beyond to make a lasting contribution to emissions targets – and will continue to do so. So rather than label us climate villains, why not focus on the fact that we are the only industry in the last 20 years to have materially lowered emissions?”

Mr Guerin said as COP26 approached, it was important for everyone to realise that Australia – given its unique and vast landscapes, mix of world class agricultural industry, scientific institutions, and depth of leadership – had a unique and historic opportunity at its fingertips.

“We will not be diverted by narrow minded, anti-agriculture groups who selectively and dishonestly use data rather than doing the work to understand the true picture and indeed the opportunity,” he said.

“We will call out malevolence of this kind in Glasgow – and loudly.  We cannot and will not have a repeat of COP3.”

 

Source: AgForce

 

 

 

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  1. Noel Preece, 28/10/2021

    I had a look on Mongabay for the article spreading lies about agriculture and CO2 emissions that you referred to but could not find it. Can you send me a link please?

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