But the data does not currently account for natural cycles reabsorbing carbon, methane and nitrous oxide from these emissions, nor the steps farmers are taking towards a more sustainable future of the industry.
Director of Kaiwaiwai Dairies, Aidan Bichan, said future proofing is not continuing to do what we do.
“It’s actually evolving as you go in reaction to what your customers are thinking, what the climate is doing, what’s your social licence to farm,” he said.
Bichan wants to see more discussions on improving technologies in rural sectors that lead towards sustainability, and how they compare to other forms of protein production, like soy plantations.
In Tauherenikau, sustainable farming at Kaiwaiwai Dairies means integrating systems that marry business objectives with sustainable outcomes.
“It might be looking at reducing the impact of winter grazing on our soils,” Bichan said.
“It could be about looking at the feed type that will help reduce methane into the future, maybe using direct drilling or low-tillage techniques to reduce nitrous oxide emissions as part of our pasture regeneration.”
Kaiwaiwai has been analysing its emissions paid to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), calculating diesel usage and how to minimise it, as well as introducing 52 kilowatt solar panels by way of shifting away from fossil fuels.
Kaiwaiwai’s vast wetland area is one initiative used by many farmers to soak up nitrates in the soil.
Kaiwaiwai shareholder, Vern Brassel, said the farm had managed to limit the use of nitrogen fertiliser by recycling some of the effluent that would have left the farm.
“We’ve invested heavily in effluent storage and also technology to spread it through our irrigators which have controlled nozzles so you can spread the nitrogen in the effluent which reduces the need for so much,” he said.
“Also the irrigator has actually helped us grow more grass on the farm closer to the shed, so that enables us to spread and reuse the fertiliser in the effluent.”
“All those things done properly will help your profitability and lower your emissions, which I believe the market is starting to reward.”
In Pirinoa, Rotopai Farms owner and manager Stu Weatherstone said he wants the industry to be seen in a more positive light.
Like cropping or cattle farming, dairy farmers support a network of local suppliers.
Rotopai’s includes milking shed supplies, electricians, tractor and pump operators as well as barley for feed from nine local growers in South Wairarapa.
“We spend probably 60 to 70% of our income into the local community, every dairy farmer does,” Weatherstone said.
“There’s a whole range of services and people that are affected if the dairy farms aren’t running properly.”
Increasing regulations imposed on the industry has strained farmers economically.
They believe policy makers need a better understanding of farm systems before implementing blanket regulations across the country.
Bichan said ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulations have been coming out of Government.
“If you give me bad regulation and policy, that’s just a hiding to nothing.”
Farm profitability and changes in land use nationally have almost tripled the beef and dairy industry’s average herd size, whilst the total number of cows across the country has declined.
This simplifies farm systems by having less small farms, and bigger, more efficient ones instead.
“The winter grazing regulations, the increase in irrigation area, the requirements to get resource consent to increase your milking platform are probably actually quite pointless [in Wairarapa],” Bichan said.
“Whereas in other regions and other catchments, I think that is fair. So I get quite frustrated with national level regulation to fix something that’s a problem in some areas.”
Pollution has increasingly been seen as a negative externality, making it the responsibility of the business that profits in its production.
Councils and Government traditionally pay for remediation from dairy pollution, but increasingly, compliance costs have fallen on the farmers who produce the pollution.
Upgrading old effluent systems to sealed ponds, renovating milking sheds, irrigation and installing fencing to reduce the business polluting waterways for others, collectively cost Rotopai Farms approximately $700,000.
Weatherstone said at some point policy makers will need to realise they’re making farms uneconomic.
“We’re private enterprises, and we’re not looking for a handout, we make our own money,” Weatherstone said.
“When our payout drops, say it’s $9 and it drops to $6.50, the [compliance] costs are still there, they don’t drop 30%.”
Regional councils provide financial support to farmers to help with riparian planting which helps improve freshwater quality.
But there’s still around a third of costs for the farmers to pay.
In Martinborough, Glen Eden Farm functions regeneratively, meaning biodiversity and pasture health is a priority, above and below the soil.
To protect soil, Glen Eden Farm has had QEII bush protected for 18 years, waterways fenced for five years, practice direct drilling and no longer intensively winters cattle.
Glen Eden’s sheep and beef farmer, Mark Gusscott, said the changes in systems towards sustainable farming are physically easier on farmers.
“The roadblocks that get in the way of sustainable farming are mostly in farmers’ heads,” he said.
“You’re not shifting breaks all the time in the winter, slogging through mud. You’ve got time to get to kid’s sport. All that stuff’s pretty bloody important to me.”
Gusscott said that focusing on greenhouse gas data from farming, without accounting for naturally occurring carbon sequestration and nitrogen cycles, neglects the real issue of fossil fuels.
“It’s a little bit unfair in that the warming impact that animals have is relatively negligible compared to what fossil fuels are like,” he said.
“The methane that comes from animals is, yes, more potent, but it’s a cycle. So in and out the whole time.”
“Provided we’re not increasing our animals, there’s not actually any increase in or change in what there was 50 years ago, and there’s a lot less animals than there was 50 years ago around the place.
“It’s probably fudging the real issue, which is fossil fuels.”
According to a study in the 2021 British Medical Journal on Nutrition, Prevention & Health, meat-dependent diets contribute to three times as many carbon emissions compared to plant-based diets, but Gusscott is not concerned by the claims.
“Worldwide meat consumption is increasing by 2 to 3% a year, so if they want to eat meat or if they don’t want to eat meat for whatever reason, that’s fine.
“We’ve got pumpkins, we grow sweetcorn on our farm, so I’m happy to cater to them as well.”
Other research said the amount of land required to produce meat is significantly greater than soy-based proteins, labelling it ultimately unsustainable.
In Wairarapa, Bichan said farmers are more invested in the conversation around climate change on a daily basis, while those living in urban areas were more likely to feel separate.
“For us it’s that’s a lot more real, because we live it.”
