Thursday, 19 January 2017 12:05

Adding fuel to fire?

Written by 
Tim Mackle Tim Mackle
Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard is worried that an appeal against a Greenpeace advertisement ruling on river pollution could prolong unfair media coverage.

Hoggard says the advertisement is “bullshit”.

“We could eventually win, but the coverage around it is shocking,” he told Rural News.

“There’s a risk we will give it more oxygen.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Greenpeace’s "dirty dairying" advert did not breach advertising principles.

Both Greenpeace and DairyNZ received embargoed copies of the ruling in December, which said they had until January 23 to appeal the ruling.

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says it is not happy with the outcome; an appeal will be filed. DairyNZ was behind one of the 12 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the ad.

Hoggard says he supported DairyNZ’s appeal.

“It absolutely pissed me off; the advertisement used footage, like sediment erosion in rivers, which has nothing to do with the dairy industry.”

Mackle says while the ASA process risked further legitimising Greenpeace's view of the dairy industry in the eyes of the public, appealing the ad was about doing what was right.

"We don't believe that standing by and allowing these activist groups to pitch messages and stories anyway they like to the public is acceptable.

"We believe it's the right thing to do in this case and that's really based on the good work dairy farmers have done in the last five to seven years around environmental initiatives."

Rather than "admitting defeat" the right thing to do was to point out that this kind of advertising was not appropriate, Mackle said.

He also rejected any claims that it complaining about the ad, the dairy industry was attempting to brush the environmental issues it faced under the carpet.

"We're not covering anything up. That's nonsense. Our issue is with that ad and how it is pitched."

Greenpeace Campaigner, Genevieve Toop said, “What industrial dairy lobbyists don't want the public to focus on is that they are planning a big increase in the number of dairy cows, already at 6 and a half million, which will cause more pollution in our lakes and rivers."

More like this

Strong uptake of good wintering practices

DairyNZ has seen a significant increase in the number of farmers improving their wintering practices, which results in a higher standard of animal care and environmental protection.

Returns 'not good enough'

Fonterra leaders are making their case for offloading the co-operative's $3 billion consumer business, noting that its return on capital has been nowhere near respectable.

Record milk price!

A record farmgate milk price for Fonterra shareholders is all but confirmed for this season.

Featured

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.

National

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of…

Machinery & Products

BA Pumps expand

Cambridge based BA Pumps & Sprayers, specialists in New Zealand-made spraying equipment, has acquired Tokoroa Engineering’s product range, including the…

Entries open for innovation award

Fieldays and its renowned Innovation Awards are celebrating their 57th year, marking a longstanding tradition in the agricultural calendar, with…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Chinese strategy

OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.

Not fair

OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter