Editorial: New RMA good for farmers
OPINION: Farmers nationwide will be rubbing their hands with glee at the latest news from the Government about the RMA reforms.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA cries of crisis over the so-called buttermilk lake near Taupo again shows how far our townie cousins are from the real world. A lake of buttermilk seems to be perceived as a national environmental disaster up there with the MV Rena.
As the sensible man from Waikato Regional Council pointed out, this is no big deal, it’s simply the dairy industry disposing of waste in a responsible way. Fonterra does this every October when milk production peaks, but this year’s exceptional milk supply requires huge dumping of by-products. Yet city people are told it’s pollution and a threat to civilisation as we know it.
In the city, pouring discarded engine oil or paint down a stormwater drain is sort-of acceptable, regardless of these pollutants showing up on a pristine beach. City folk never pollute – yeah right! Visit any city landfill and you will see all sorts of nasties about to leach into the soil and end up in a nearby stream or on a beach.
This latest incident highlights the gap between town and country and shows that city folk need to be educated in what is normal in the country.
The phrase ‘dirty dairying’ rolls off the tongue easily, but its perpetrators include those who have spread didymo from stream to stream and lake to lake. It could be called ‘dirty fishing’ but dare we criticise these ‘environmentalists’?
The dairy industry is doing the right thing and disposing of waste in a responsible way, yet city journalists don’t get it, perceiving a legitimate practice as an environmental disaster. The reality is all industries produce waste and the primary sector is no exception.
It’s time city folk caught up by acknowledging the farming sector has by and large got its act together.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
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