Friday, 19 September 2014 11:33

Farmers spend big on environment

Written by 

Dairy farmers in the Horizons Regional Council area have each spent an average $110,000 on environmental management in the past five years.


Federated Farmers Manawatu-Rangitikei provincial president James Stewart says the huge investment tells a really positive story about where we are heading environmentally and the buy in that is coming from the farmers.


"As people vote tomorrow I genuinely hope they will realise that farmers are doing a lot to farm more sustainably.


"It is very difficult to put a number on environmental spending, but we wanted to try, so we sent a survey out to all 918 dairy farms via the Horizons Regional Council. We were stunned by the response, not just the figures but how many people replied during their busiest time of year, calving season."


Of the 165 responses (18%), there was over $18 million spent by all manner of farmers from the small family farms to the bigger corporate farms.


"If you equated that to the 918 dairy farms in the region, we are looking at over $100 million spent by farmers on environmental protection, upgrades and sustainable practices in Horizons alone," says Stewart.


Breaking down the $18 million into effluent, riparian and other categories, 61% was spent on effluent management and upgrades; 9% on the initial instalment of riparian planting and fencing; and 30% on stock exclusion such as bridges, culverts and feed pads.


It's important to remember that riparian planting also requires ongoing management and maintenance, which represents further costs in future, says Stewart.


"Whichever way you look at it there are sizeable figures being invested into systems, which minimise the environmental impact of dairy farming.


"Our stand out performers, were the smaller husband and wife teams, in particular one couple spent $360,000 on effluent management and upgrades, an individual who spent $183,000 on building 30 culverts, a feed pad and a irrigation monitoring system, and another who spent $430,000 on riparian management, retiring 30 hectares of land and fencing off waterways.


"We are seeing the positive work of farmers, Horizons Regional Council and other entities is paying off, with the overall trend of our rivers stable to improving. We know we've got a long way to go, but it is nice to finally be able to say 'hey we're pulling our weight" with some proof.


"I'd like to thank and congratulate all the farmers who are doing their bit and making the positive changes happen. We are the caretakers of the land and your time, investment and care is acknowledged and appreciated."

 

More like this

A hurry up!

OPINION: PM Chris Luxon is getting pinged lately for rolling out the old 'we're still a new government' line when challenged on a perceived lack of progress on various policy promises.

Featured

LIC Space folds for good

Farmer co-operative LIC has closed its satellite-backed pasture measurement platform – Space.

Editorial: Time for common sense

OPINION: The case of four Canterbury high country stations facing costly and complex consent hearing processes highlights the dilemma facing the farming sector as the country transitions into a replacement for the Resource Management Act (RMA).

National

DairyNZ Farmers Forum underway

Over 300 farmers and rural professionals have gathered in Hamilton for the first DairyNZ Farmers Forum for this year.

Machinery & Products

Shearing legend hooked on CanAm

Sir David Fagan, world-renowned competitive sheep shearer with 642 shearing titles worldwide and a knighthood to his name, now runs…

50 years of tractor pull

This year, the Fieldays Tractor Pull, in association with PTS Logistics, mark a major milestone – 50 years of crowd-thrilling…

The Wrangler's birthday bash

It's the Wrangler Limited’s 30th birthday and to celebrate the milestone a prototype of the E Series Wrangler - a…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Free speech

OPINION: The Free Speech Union is taking this one too far.

Drug survey

OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter