Wednesday, 18 May 2016 08:36

No handbrake on dairy

Written by 

The Government will not stifle the growth of the dairy industry to limit its impact on the environment, says Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.

He says stopping the industry growing would be the easy solution but the Government is not keen on going down that path.


"As the political wind changes, you might end up with easy solutions," he told DairyNZ's Farmers Forum in Hamilton.
"We are picking the hard road."


Overall there will be environmental constraints and in some places they will bite but not everywhere.


English believes that there are significant enough changes in farming practices allowing farmers to be profitable and more productive with lower nitrates.

More like this

Climate change dilemma

Former Fonterra director Marise James says the future of the dairy industry depends upon the direction of travel with respect to climate change.

Climate-friendly cows closer

Dairy farmers are one step closer to breeding cow with lower methane emissions, offering an innovative way to reduce the nation's agricultural carbon footprint without compromising farm productivity.

Govt limits forestry conversions

Farmers have welcomed the Government’s move designed to limit farm to forestry conversions entering the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Featured

‘Nanobubble’ trial trims irrigation water usage

North Canterbury dairy farmer and recently-elected deputy chair of DairyNZ, Cameron Henderson, is enjoying a huge reduction in irrigation water use after converting a pivot irrigator to drag perforated drip tubes across the ground instead of elevated sprinkler heads.

Editorial: Elusive India FTA

OPINION: Without doubt, a priority of the Government this year will be to gain traction on the elusive free trade deal with India.

Sport star to talk at expo

Rugby league legend Tawera Nikau is set to inspire, celebrate and entertain at the East Coast Farming Expo's very popular Property Broker's Evening Muster.

National

Machinery & Products

Kuhn bags tech award

French company KUHN has won a EIMA Technical Innovation Award for its Baler Automation Technology.

Telescopic front-end loader

An interesting concept emerged at the recent EIMA show in Italy, where Italian company Aries - a front linkage manufacturer -…

AI-powered robotic feed pusher

While most New Zealand farmers operate with animals at pasture all year round, unlike their European counterparts, several operations in…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

'Bee wear' Simeon

OPINION: A keen pair of eyes wandering down the main street of the hub of the Horowhenua, Levin recently came…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter