Dairy critics say report backs campaign

Wildlife lobby Fish and Game says an environmental report card on New Zealand farming vindicates the "dirty dairying" campaign it ran against farmers who let livestock effluent wash into waterways.

Fish and Game New Zealand said the report, issued this week by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Morgan Williams, revealed large-scale environmental degradation from intensive agriculture.

"Land use intensification cannot continue on its current scale without serious impacts on our natural resources," said Fish and Game spokesman Neil Deans.

"There has been a virtual revolution in farming, particularly with the growth of massive dairy agribusinesses, the scale of which even takes some farmers by surprise".

Dr Williams was correct to say a re-design of farming practices and systems was needed.

"The agricultural sector - which is raking in money from this level of rapid growth - needs to take responsibility for the damage it is causing".

Poorly managed intensive agriculture not only damaged the environment, but could also harm the industry's image in export markets.

Dr Williams' report, Growing for Good, questioned the sustainability of intensive farming in New Zealand in light of increased use of nitrogen fertilisers and irrigation, and increased stocking rates.

The report said there was strong evidence that New Zealand waterways were becoming nutrient-enriched and degraded from animal faecal matter and nitrogen.

Mr Deans said regional councils had been too slow to control the effects of intensive agriculture, and some councils were granting resource consents, for 35 years with little understanding of the long term consequences.

Scientific evidence that almost all lowland waterways had pollution levels that exceeded health standards was a wake-up call to the public and politicians, he said.

"It proves how necessary Fish and Game's 'dirty dairying' campaign was."

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said it was good to see the report address issues of sustainability.

"The report takes a broad perspective on sustainability and overviews issues which are likely to stimulate considerable debate," he said.

Mr Sutton said some issues were already being tackled in the the Clean Streams Accord between the dairy industry, local government, and central government.

Dr Williams' report would be studied closely to see where further improvements could be made.

Industry research funder Dairy Insight said dairy farmers were paying for a great deal of research and technology transfer into farming systems to protect the environment as well as spending money on their own farms on environmental protection.

Dairy Insight chief executive, Peter Bodeker, said his body was spending nearly $2 million this year on environmental research.

He said that nobody could argue with the concept of "sustainable" farming, but "we just need to agree what 'sustainable' means in terms of water and soil protection and I don't think there is agreement on that yet".

"We fully accept there are issues that need to be addressed, but they must be ones that enable farmers to stay in business."

One research partner, Dexcel, was working to persuade farmers to "budget" the fertiliser they applied.

Leading farmers were adopting new systems and new technology to limit their impact on the environment, but the industry needed more time to develop and test the new systems "because some will clearly be more cost-effective than others".

"Good use of nutrient budgeting may help farmers to reduce their fertiliser costs while also contributing to better environmental practice."

The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand said Dr Williams' report might have underestimated dairy farmers regard for environmental issues.

"There is no doubt that dairying has become more intensive over recent years, but equally there is no doubt that environmental issues and sustainable practices are more front-of-mind for our farmers," said association chairman Earl Rattray.

- NZPA

More cows

Dairying accounts for 20 per cent of New Zealand's merchandise export earnings, and is becoming more intensive.

Between 1994 and 2002, the number of dairy cows increased by 34 per cent; the amount of land directly used for dairy cows increased by 12 per cent.

The intensity of fertiliser use - the amount of nitrogen applied - has soared. The intensity of urea use increased 670 per cent in sheep and beef farming and 160 per cent in dairy farming between 1996 and 2002.