Federated Farmers will today announce a new campaign to reduce nitrate run-off from farm fertiliser and stock effluent into waterways.
It is understood federation president Charlie Pedersen will unveil the "10 in 10" campaign - seeking to cut nitrate leaching to water by 10 per cent in 10years - at a meeting of the national council in Wellington.
Prime Minister Helen Clark is also due to speak at the meeting and Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has been invited to respond to Pedersen's announcement.
Nitrate run-off is a major issue affecting waterways. It is already being tackled by initiatives such as more extensive planning over nitrate use on farms and keeping stock out of waterways.
Today's speech will be Pedersen's third on environmental matters this year. At a council meeting in July, he fired a scathing broadside at environmentalists, castigating them for putting green concerns before national economic well being.
In September, he attacked so-called myths about farming and the environment.
He argued most consumers wanted to buy "as much as they can for as little as possible", with few prepared to pay for food produced in a way that protected the environment.
His comments prompted a warning from Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton who suggested they could hurt exports if they created perceptions that New Zealand farmers did not care about the environment.
Today's speech announcing the "10 in 10" initiative may be partly designed to counter any such perceptions.
It is understood the campaign's catchy tagline is not meant as a hard target, particularly since measuring reductions may prove difficult.
Rather, the idea is to change farmers' behaviour to make further reductions in nitrogen run-off.
