The Urban Pots calling the Dairying Kettle Black

An article under the heading “Kiwis dirty on dairying” appeared in our local paper claiming the results of the survey commissioned by the Fish & Game Council would shock many in the agriculture sector where “... the long held presumption has been that farming enjoys popular support of the wider public.”

That comment could only be described as naïve and stupid.

The Fish & Game Council have been running a campaign against dairying for some time so the latest attack would come as no surprise to the industry. And their campaign has obviously been successful with a sustained main stream media campaign described in Straight Furrow as ‘Farmers victims of overheated media’.

This particular survey and news piece is political in that it is driven by a political party to provide a focus on their agenda, and also by an environmental organisation whose favourite pastime is criticising the major economic provider in this country. There is nothing quite like creating an ‘enemy’ image to draw people to your safe political haven.

Don’t get me wrong, the significance of agriculture and the growth of dairying have presented challenges which are being addressed to meet all the various sensitivities we have become aware of through scientific development. Just as we have to face the negative impacts of intensive urbanisation and residential development on productive land. There can be no argument with those respondents who want to know political party policies on economic growth and the subsequent impact on the environment.

It was interesting that 73% or the respondents wanted diary companies to take responsibility for all of the organisations they deal with. What we weren’t told was what responsibility those respondents were taking for their environment. How many of them went out to clean up the rubbish in their street? How many recycle their grey water instead of using high quality drinking water to water their garden, wash their car and flush their toilet? Did any of them collect water from their roof?

How much recycling do they do? Are they putting out less rubbish bags? And do they only buy items in their supermarket that are packaged in recyclable material? How often do they drive when there are public transport options available? How many of them are subject to similar standards and penalties on water management and emissions as are demanded of farmers?

If you don’t grow all your own food and meet all of the same standards and requirements, there is the risk that your negative view of farming is hypocritical.

The Primary sector is predicted to increase exports by $5billion this year. That’s a 16% increase for the benefit of the entire country. Putting that increase into perspective, that is more money than the Government will generate from its entire asset sales programme. As one agricultural commentator has noted, “Farmers have achieved that largely on their own and after a severe drought. Along the way farmers have fenced waterways, done their best in tight financial times to maintain and improve soil fertility, increased the breeding efficiencies of their animals and put up with a tonne of media angst.”

The questions of the survey were clearly pointed towards a preferred answer, and also we do not know whether the respondents were urban dwellers or not, or what knowledge base respondents were drawing their answers from.

The perception of the respondents of the environmentalist’s survey of dairy farming in particular and agriculture in general is probably determined by what is largely a negative media focus on farming. 

How many read about Nuffield Scholar Natasha King’s goal to run Fonterra’s tanker fleet on fuel created from dairy cow effluent using algae technology? Her research found that algae driven bio-fuel production could be the most promising long-term solution to the problem of diary effluent. That technology would also help to make New Zealand more self-sufficient in fuel. The fact is you didn’t read or hear about it in mainstream media.

How many read about Shayne and Charmaine O’Shea who won the LIC Dairy Farm Award, the Northland Council Water Quality Enhancement Award and were the Supreme Award winners for the Balance Farm Environment Awards in 2013? Judges said that all aspects of their business were sustainable and profitable and there is an obvious balance of the financial, environmental and social aspects of their farming model. The fact is you didn’t read or hear about it in mainstream media.

Recently, in the NZ Farmers Weekly, Neal Shaw highlighted the disparity between how farmers and others are dealt with in pollution matters. He noted that Queenstown, the poster town for New Zealand’s 100% Pure campaign, has been responsible for repeated sewage spills into pristine lake Wakatipu. Apparently in the past 12 months there have been spills on average once every 6 weeks and twice in January of this year.

Because the spills were deemed to be caused by a third party – Joe public – Queenstown District Council has dodged a fine. “Any farmer smarting from an effluent fine could rightly expect the council to be hunting down the culprits blocking town sewers with fatty waste, just as offending farmers are quickly identified  when polluted waterways are detected,” wrote Shaw. However it appears it was simply too difficult for the council to deal with.

And how many heard about the ferry operator in Auckland who was emptying ferry sewage tanks in the harbour excusing it because they were busy over the summer. They dodged prosecution and claimed ignorance about the law. What makes matters worse, the operator had failed to use a $400,000 rate-payer funded pumping station to handle their sewage. Did you read or hear about it in mainstream media?

Subsequently there have been articles in the local paper by John Allen which provide a much more sensible and considered approach to sustainable dairying. He notes that the label ‘dirty dairying’ has more to do with unsustainable regulations around managing dairy effluent than it has to do with dairy farmers compliance with those regulations. Yes there are issues with water quality and the intensification of dairying. The challenge, he says, is to find solutions that are workable and to do it reasonably fast.

In my opinion we have to acknowledge the significant economic contribution of Agriculture in general and dairying in particular, get solution focused and stop the pointless name calling.