From prosperity to austerity onfarm

In January-March 2015 Federated Farmers and DairyNZ surveyed dairy farmers nationwide to discover their five-year spend on environmental work. At least 500 replied and, weighted against national averages, farmers were seen to have spent $1 billion.

The biggest portion was spent on effluent management, then stock exclusion, retiring land and riparian planting. 

While participating in the survey I was surprised how much you don’t take your spending into account until you write it down.  On our farm it was close to $300,000 in the past five years.

When I fly into Hamilton airport I can see a lot of farms are doing their bit. The landscape has changed and so have we all. Conversations on the environment have shifted from finger pointing to lets dig in and make things better for the next generation.

Farmers understand the need to balance increases in production and profits with environmental responsibilities. The survey shows that NZ dairy farmers’ environmental spending averaged $90,000 each in the past five years. Waikato dairy farmers collectively spent at least $350m. It is encouraging to see their work quantified.

We’ve still got a lot to do, but let’s celebrate this achievement before we get to the next one, because it will take a little longer if the payout remains low.

In Waikato, farmer’s spending may also be supplemented by the Waikato River Authority’s Clean-Up Trust Fund, helping pay for big projects such as riparian planting on the Waikato and Waipa rivers. So far up to $6m has gone annually into these projects. Farmers may apply for funding for such projects; applications close August 14. 

Our community, industry groups like DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, councils and iwi can contribute to a better Waikato, simply by doing a little each year for ten years. This will result in big gains, as our survey has shown.

• Chris Lewis is Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president.