Lobby group Groundswell New Zealand helped organise more than 50 protests in towns and cities across the country.

The rallies against the measure were smaller than expected, with the biggest involving a few dozen vehicles, but farmers came up with creative slogans to express their frustration.

One placard read: "Without farmers you will be hungry, naked & sober"; and another: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

The government has said the new levy, designed to curb climate breakdown, would be a world first and that farmers should be able to recover the cost by charging a premium for climate-friendly products.

But the industry, which altogether farms 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep compared to New Zealand's population of five million people, argues a tax could increase global greenhouse gas emissions by shifting farming to countries less efficient at making food.

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