increase font size
The bottles of water displayed at Te Papa.
Dairy farmers are venting their frustration at national museum Te Papa for its “anti-farming narrative”.
It stems from a bottle of murky water on display at the museum: the bottle is labelled “Farm Stream”. An image on the bottle shows a cow defecating in a stream.
National agriculture spokesman Todd Muller earlier this week tweeted a photo captioned “Te Papa water quality display presents this as water from a typical farm stream. What do you think? Any farmers want to post a bottle of water from their farm streams to compare?”
Many farmers took to social media to blast Te Papa, who tweeted in reply to Muller’s tweet: “this display shows that water quality can't be judged on its appearance.
“The dairy stream example is one of 9, and sits right next to a city storm water bottle and below a forestry stream water bottle.”
However, dairy farmers aren’t convinced.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to see our national museum Te Papa reinforcing an overly simplistic anti-farming narrative that negatively impacts the public’s perception of New Zealand farmers and the dairy sector” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says.
“The water in their display is not reflective of what your average farm stream in NZ would look like. If you don’t believe me, you just need to look at the countless videos and pictures farmers have posted to social media to correct the perception.
“Farmers were right in demanding to know when and where this water was taken from. Te Papa have since confessed that the water wasn’t actually from a farm at all but was made up in a back room using brown dye.
“It’s not just about the quality of the water in the bottle either” Mackle added.
He says the imagery on the bottle of a cow standing in water defecating is highly deceptive and entirely out of step with the reality of dairy farming in New Zealand today.
“Farmers who have done the right thing and voluntarily invested their time and their money to fence off waterways and plant riparian strips deserve better than this from their national museum.”
Dairy farmers have fenced over 24,744km of waterways.
A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.
Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of a major software project.
Animal disease management agency OSPRI has written off nearly $17 million after a botched attempt to launch a new integrated animal disease management and traceability system.
OPINION: DairyNZ's director elections has seen scientist Jacqueline Rowarth re-elected for another three-year term.
Always be on the lookout for new job opportunities and get outside your comfort zone.
Fonterra’s board has been reduced to nine - comprising six farmer-elected and three appointed directors.
Five hunting-related shootings this year is prompting a call to review firearm safety training for licencing.
The horticulture sector is a big winner from recent free trade deals sealed with the Gulf states, says Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg.
Fonterra shareholders are concerned with a further decline in the co-op’s share of milk collected in New Zealand.
A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.
Free workshops focused on managing risk in sharefarming got underway last week.
OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.
OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.
