Numerous_Vegetable_3 t1_irwdbf8 wrote on October 11, 2022 at 3:17 PM

Reply to comment by YpsilonY in New Zealand proposes taxing cow burps to reduce emissions by TDYDave2

Where I'm from, dairy farms aren't really 'industrial entities', and I think that's more what I'm getting at. Sure, giant corporations making mega farms are NOT GOOD and should be held accountable. The family down the road from me that has been farming for 5 generations? Nothing wrong with them & their practices.

I just don't think farming should ever be monopolized the way it has been. The only reason it's so destructive as an industry is because actual farmers get jack shit for their crop, can't repair their own equipment legally, and are forced to use certain brands of seed & cow feed. Eventually they can't sustain the costs & have to sell to a giant corporate farming entity.

Yeah, farming is pollutive & destructive on a large scale, but people's insatiable greed is what bastardized the industry & made it that.

It's better to solve the problem by actually identifying the issue, and that issue is greed & forced growth by shareholders. Taxing Joe Farmer every time his cow burps is ridiculous. That's not going to solve the major problems with the farming industry or reduce the pollution in any way. Forcing farming entities to have better practices & fining them for refusing to change would be much more effective, and actually solve some of the pollution issue.

cbf1232 t1_irx56hz wrote on October 11, 2022 at 6:19 PM

Here in Canada most dairy farms are definitely industrial entities in the sense that they've got hundreds of cattle and are largely automated.

And we already know that it's possible to significantly reduce cow methane production by feeding them a small amount of seaweed...there are probably other ways as well.

By taxing them for cow burps and then giving them money back if they do the right thing, it provides a financial incentive to do the right thing. This is known as a "Pigouvian tax" in economics.