Rural delivery: 'Dirty dairying' slogan off mark

By JIM BARNETT*

Rapid expansion of intensive dairy farming, particularly in new areas of the South Island such as Canterbury and Southland, has heightened tensions between anglers and conservationists on one side, and farmers on the other.

Dairy farming has been sharply criticised by the New Zealand Fish and Game Council for its effects on waterways and freshwater fishing but the situation is far too complex to be captured by simple slogans such as "dirty dairying".

Dairy farms are not the environmental vandals that some environmentalists are alleging, but poor farm management can definitely reduce water quality.

The problems caused by dairy farming are being overstated, but improvements can be made without the drastic steps being called for by some conservation groups.

The benefits of improving dairying's environmental sustainability go beyond having cleaner waterways.

It gives the industry protection from possible non-trade barriers being raised in the future, or the loss of any clean, green premium, based on dairy farming's environmental impacts.

The industry has accepted that there are environmental issues to be dealt with and it is already taking positive action to reduce the effect that dairy farms have on waterways.

The Dairying and the Environment Committee - an industry-wide effort - recently distributed a set of environmental and animal welfare guidelines to all dairy farmers.

The environmental guidelines were followed last week by an industry standard environmental management system named Market Focused.

It will give dairy farmers the best practical knowledge to allow them to manage their farms in the least environmentally harmful way.

The committee is working to identify the problems, research practical solutions and then provide farmers with a toolbox of ideas that will enable them to reduce the level of harm in the best way for their own circumstances.

The New Zealand Dairy Research Institute and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research shows that intensive dairying can lead to lower water quality.

However, lower water quality can also be caused by many other factors, such as urban wastewater, forestry, manufacturing and other types of farming.

So the problems are complex.

Research is ongoing, and at present we do not have all the answers. However, there is sufficient knowledge to go to farmers with possible solutions.

Farmers should take heart from the fact that often very simple and inexpensive changes are effective in reducing environmental impact to a low level.

Very often the changes are just good farm practice, and many farmers are doing them already.

A good example of this is single wire fences to protect waterways from stock.

The benefit for the farmers is that they spend less time recovering cows for milking - a win-win situation.

The eventual result will come about through environmentalists, farmers and the wider community working together for an obtainable goal.

That is reducing dairy farms' measurable environmental impact to the point that the land is sustainable and waterways remain clean and fishable.

* Dr Jim Barnett is general manager, environment, of the NZ Dairy Research Institute