Climate Change Report: How farmers in the South feel about stock reduction figure 14 Feb, 2021 11:15 PM 5 minutes to read By: Hamish MacLean Pastoral farms occupy almost 40 per cent of New Zealand's landscape and the farming sector underpins the nation's economy. So when the Climate Change Commission suggested in its draft advice fewer animals on farms could be required to meet our greenhouse gas emissions obligations, people worried. The Otago Daily Times' Hamish MacLean takes the temperature of the issue in the South. A possible 15 per cent reduction in livestock numbers on red meat and dairy farms by 2030 could break New Zealand's under-pressure agriculture industry, some farmers fear.