Changes for future farming - candidate

John Hart speaks on New Zealand farming. PHOTO/ SUPPLIED

If farmers had to pay for their effects on the environment they would make different and better decisions, John Hart says.

He's the Green Party's Wairarapa candidate and spoke in Whanganui on Thursday night, invited by Whanganui Green candidate Nicola Patrick. He has a 20ha sheep and beef farm at Mauriceville, near Masterton, and also works off-farm.

He said farmers should be paying for their effects on the environment - emissions of carbon and methane, water pollution and the water they take and use.

He'd like to see a more diverse farming scene, with smaller farms making luxury foods that fetch high prices and have less impact on the environment.

His own farm has been organic for eight years, with no fertiliser except animal manure and nitrogen added by clover. He's bred parasite resistant animals and does little drenching.

"It's more like how farming was 50 years ago."

He said conventional farming was heading in the wrong direction, continually trying to up production, often at the expense of the environment. A DairyNZ study concluded the last 10 years of growth hadn't added any extra profit.

There's a "sweet spot" to find, and he said once a day milking could help by reducing costs while keeping two thirds of production and making life better for both cows and farm workers.

Farming will be challenged by the erratic weather of climate change and by city people who are less keen to grant "licence to farm" given its effect on the environment, he said.