increase font size
David Parker.
At times it is hard not to believe the meme that ‘Minister of Everything’ David Parker really does hate farmers and farming.
Parker has done little to debunk this mindset since coming into government: consider his arrogant pre-election threat to double Labour’s proposed (but ill-fated) irrigation tax if farmers did not meekly accept his plans.
So when Parker, wearing his Environment Minister hat, provocatively goes on television demanding an improvement in water quality and alluding to livestock reductions in certain regions if this does not happen, it is like deja vu all over again!
It might advance Parker’s political posturing to point the finger at farming – dairy in particular – while he claims he will drag the sector ‘kicking and screaming’ to clean up its act and the country’s waterways. However, he is not telling the full story about the work now underway around New Zealand to tackle water quality.
In Canterbury, Waikato, Manawatu and Horowhenua, Southland and Otago a huge amount of collaborative work has been done by regional councils, communities and farmers. Catchment by catchment, plans are being implemented already to move on the sorts of measures the Environment Minister says he will implement.
Some places will face having to cap or reduce cow numbers, others are implementing new nutrient limits, and any proposed new irrigation schemes must have nutrient budgets and limitations as part of their resource consent conditions.
This is not to mention that around the country farmers have erected tens of thousands of kilometres of fences to keep stock out of waterways; they have planted millions of trees and shrubs in riparian strips; and they have begun managing their land and operations in new ways to reduce their environmental impact on water.
Farmers are not blind to how they affect the environment: the rural sector acknowledges change must happen for reasons of economics, sustainability, international reputation and even their ‘social licence’ to continue farming with public support.
Parker says he will have failed as a politician if he does not push regulation which leads to an improvement in NZ’s water quality.
Maybe so, but he has already failed the honesty test by not acknowledging to the wider public the work now being done in good faith by the farming sector – and others – to address water quality issues.
OPINION: When we finally get a government (no agreement had been finalised at time of writing), the first thing the new administration needs to review is all the regional and district plans that are being rolled out across the country to comply with the new National Policy Statement (NPS).
OPINION: Environment Minister David Parker, likely in the final weeks of the job, remains hell-bent on burning bridges with farmers.
New national standards will give local councils more power to decide where new commercial forests – including carbon forests – are located, to reduce the impacts on communities and the environment, says Environment Minister David Parker.
Environment Minister David Parker has labelled members of rural ginger group Groundswell NZ as “dinosaurs”.
Freshwater farm plans to help farmers improve local waterways will be progressively phased in across the country.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
