MEDIA RELEASE

4 May 2009

NZ Dairy Strategy- Environment Must Be A Priority

Fish & Game New Zealand await with interest the launch of the Strategy for New Zealand Dairy Farming by the Prime minister, John Key on Tuesday.

The adverse environmental effects of intensive agriculture, and dairy framing in particular, are well understood and recognised by central and local government, the agricultural sector and the public of New Zealand.

“We are looking for the Strategy to unambiguously recognise the problem, address solutions and implement specific measurable performance milestone,” said Bryce Johnson, Chief Executive if the New Zealand Fish & Game Council. “Specifically, we are looking for:

• Dairy industry acknowledgement that there is a proven ‘dairying and the environment’ problem to be solved.

• Dairy industry recognition that the primary responsibility for fixing this environmental problem lies with the industry itself – that the industry actually has a duty to do so.

• Dairy industry commitment to “environmentally sustainable best on-farm practice” becoming a mandatory requirement upon all suppliers, by a specified date with milestone dates to assess progress. This would include riparian buffer zone protection and independently audited whole-of-farm nutrient management plans.

• The dairy industry leading implementation of consequences for suppliers who display persistent non-compliance with regional council resource consents.

• The dairy industry leading implementation of consequences for suppliers who do not demonstrate performance in the transition to environmentally sustainable dairy farming.

• A central leadership role for the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand by causing milk supplier contracts to include consistent environmental best practice conditions.”

ENDS

Attached is background information on Fish &Game and the ‘dairying and the environment’ debate.

Fish &Game New Zealand and the “dairying and the environment” debate

Why is Fish & Game New Zealand in the “dairying and the environment” debate?

• Fish and Game Councils are not environmental, conservation or outdoor recreation lobby groups like Forest & Bird, ECO, Green Peace, Federated Mountain Clubs, The NZ Deer Stalkers Association or the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations.

• Fish and Game Councils (collectively called Fish & Game New Zealand) are statutory bodies with specific statutory duties under the Conservation Act to “manage, maintain and enhance sports fish and game”. These are public resources that do not attach to land title.

• Habitat protection is therefore critically important to the achievement of this statutory duty. F&GNZ realized long ago that if the habitat is looked after then the animals that rely on that habitat will largely look after themselves.

• Any activity that degrades the quality and/or extent of this habitat is therefore a threat to sports fish and game populations and F&GNZ is obliged to challenge its adverse environmental effects and those specific activities and agencies that cause it.

• Land and water, which comprises the fundamental natural elements of this habitat, is a finite natural resource. It is also the same natural resource that underpins primary industry. Every time land or water is allocated to an activity that diminishes its availability for sports fish or game bird habitat, or degrades (through pollution) that which remains, it reduces the sports fish & game resource that underpins F&GNZ’s reason-for-being.

• It therefore ought to be no surprise why Fish & Game holds strong views about the adverse environmental effects of dairy farming.

What does the law say about environmental responsibility?

• Section 17 of the Resource Management Act 1991 states that:
“Every person has a duty to avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse effect on the
environment arising from an activity carried on by or on behalf of that person”….

• Section 15 of this Act states that:
“No person may discharge any –
Contaminant …into water; or
Contaminant onto or into land in circumstances which may result in that
contaminant entering water”…
The Act’s definition of ‘contaminant’ includes farm fertilizer.

What are the scientific and official reports saying?

• There are now numerous reports over a long period of time by government agencies and regional statutory bodies that have identified the adverse environmental effects of agriculture, and especially intensive dairy farming.

• These reports all point to the fact that agriculture in general, and dairy farming in particular, has failed to meet the intent of parliament as established by the requirements of ss.15 and 17 of the RMA.

• The issue has now progressed to the point where public opinion surveys have established that water quality is now perceived as New Zealand’s most significant environmental issue and that agriculture is perceived to be the primary cause of the problem.

What is the relevance of all this to New Zealand?

• There is no question in the minds of the general public and industry alike that New Zealand’s “unique point of difference”, in terms of how it defines itself as a nation and differentiates its products in world markets, centres around its natural environment. New Zealand’s “clean and green / 100%Pure” image is promoted extensively as a global brand.

• Without this New Zealand would have very little to command market status and an attractive international identity. And to endure it must have genuine and provable integrity.

So where does New Zealand need to go?

• New Zealand agriculture has to make a traceable transition to “environmental sustainability”. There can be no secure, long term, strategic future for New Zealand under a regime that supports and promotes “environmentally unsustainable agriculture”.

Who should be responsible for making this happen?

• Drawing from the relevant legislation, noted above, F&GNZ believes the primary duty lies with agriculture itself; and within agriculture it lies with the various agricultural sector leadership bodies. For the dairy industry this would be Dairy New Zealand and the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand. This is why the new Strategy for New Zealand Dairy Farming is so important, and why F&GNZ is so interested in its content.

• A second order responsibility lies with central and regional government.

So what, specifically, will Fish and Game be looking for?

• Dairy industry acknowledgement that there is a proven ‘dairying and the environment’ problem to be solved.

• Dairy industry recognition that the primary responsibility for fixing this environmental problem lies with the industry itself – that the industry actually has a duty to do so.

• Dairy industry commitment to “environmentally sustainable best on-farm practice” becoming a mandatory requirement upon all suppliers, by a specified date with milestone dates to assess progress. This would include riparian buffer zone protection and independently audited whole-of-farm nutrient management plans.

• Dairy industry lead consequences for suppliers who display persistent non-compliance with regional council resource consents.

• Dairy industry lead consequences for suppliers who do not demonstrate performance in the transition to environmentally sustainable dairy farming.

• A central leadership role for the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand by causing milk supplier contracts to include consistent environmental best practice conditions.

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