From Radio New Zealand:

“James Cameron's plans to convert his Wairarapa properties into organic veggie farms appear to have fallen short - with hundreds of cows now understood to be grazing in his paddocks.

“The Avatar film director owns more than 1500 hectares of land in South Wairarapa, and has been outspoken about the need for New Zealand to move away from agriculture to curb carbon emissions.

“Locals say he's not walking the talk - with plans for crop farming giving way to more lucrative dairy grazing.

“However, they did note the farm had moved to get away from agriculture, that there was no intensive stock grazing taking place, and that staff did an excellent job with the property.”

Can you smell a whiff of non-disclosure agreement in the air?

“Checkpoint contacted many South Wairarapa residents for this story. Most did not want to speak, citing non-disclosure agreements they had signed due to connections with the Cameron Family Farms.”

In earlier times:

"You can't really talk about reducing emissions in New Zealand without talking about the future of ag[riculture] and food," Cameron said.

"The elephant in the room - or the cow in the room - here is obviously animal agriculture."

“It was a cause the Camerons obviously cared a lot about. They shut down two dairy farms when they bought land near Featherston and established a large vegetable-growing operation.

“Their website proudly states that 'Cameron Family Farms are dedicatedly leading the next generations of eco-warriors and farmers towards large scale animal-free organic eco-agriculture'.

“Wairarapa locals say those words are starting to sound like a bunch of hot air.”

Perhaps the facts-on-the-ground have won out:

“MacKenzie said there was plenty of interest when the Cameron's first came to town and announced their plans.

"For anybody coming in and specifically wanting to grow new sorts of crops and vegetables - which was their emphasis - we thought 'well, this is going to be interesting to watch', just to see how successful it's going to be."

“She said while the farm originally did have a lot of organically grown vegetables and crops, those activities appeared to have ground to a halt over the past year.

"I think they were unrealistic given the sort of climate and conditions, particularly in this area, that you would ever run a farm without animals."

Lots of speculation here but it does sound like dairy cows are grazing on the Camerons’ land, even if they’re being milked somewhere else.

We’ll see if Cameron has something to say about all this before Avatar 19 comes out.

[Cover photo: Environmental activist Suzy Amis Cameron with her husband, hollywood director James Cameron, at the Just Transition event. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin]