Freshwater policy gives growers hope
HORTICULTURE NEW Zealand is looking forward to a time when all regional councils will manage their waterways in the same way, thanks to the release of the new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
"DairyNZ will implement these new standards with farmers. We have a firm commitment from the industry and from our farmers on that front. Where's there's an agreed problem that needs fixing, we'll get in there and do our bit," says DairyNZ's strategy and investment leader for sustainability, Dr Rick Pridmore.
"The dairy industry supports farming to environmental limits to solve identified water quality problems. We're already doing that kind of work across the country with farmers and councils in 15 priority areas. We also spend more than $11 million a year of dairy farmers' levy money on environmental initiatives including local water quality studies and supporting farmers to take action to fix issues."
Dr Pridmore says the key challenge with the new national standards will be applying them at a local level. "We're going to need clever solutions that fix problems in a way that keep farmers in business and deliver what communities decide they want for their local waterways. This will be about collective action by dairy farmers but it's also going to involve a lot of work by councils, community groups, environmentalists, other farming sectors and scientists."
He says a single focus on dairy farming isn't the answer. "There will always be a range of factors affecting water quality. You need to have everyone in the tent looking at what they can do to help.
"The best thing about the Government's new standards is that they are the result of more than 60 scientists working together. There are still gaps in the system and we support further science to fill those gaps as soon as possible. But it's a great achievement to have the collective scientific fraternity behind this. You need that kind of buy-in if you are going to make this work.
"We've really got to make sure we implement these standards well. Our country's prosperity depends upon it and so does the future of a lot of dairy farmers and the communities, towns and the local economies that they support.
"We all have a stake in this – and if we do it right, we can still manage to sustainably grow dairy farming. There will be some areas where a 'no grow' or 'slow grow' approach will be needed until we can build sufficient headroom for more development."
