Dairying and Clean Streams Accord

Environment Bay of Plenty is pleased with the results reported in the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord Snapshot of Progress 2008/09, released today, but admits there is definitely room for improvement.

The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord is an agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry for the Environment, Fonterra and Local Government New Zealand (on behalf of regional councils).

Signed in May 2003, it provides a framework for these organisations to work together. The Accord remains a key voluntary environmental initiative, alongside a wide range of other projects and strategies, set up to support and improve the dairy industry’s environmental, social and economic performance.

Environment Bay of Plenty Chairman John Cronin said he was pleased with results for the Bay of Plenty region but said that there was always room for improvement.

“Overall, in 2008/09 we achieved better than the previous year against the targets in the Accord and except for a few poor performers our regional dairy effluent compliance was very good,” he said.

The number of significant non-compliance in the region remained the same at 9 percent – nationally significant non-compliance increased from 12 percent in 2007/08 to 15 percent in 2008/09.

“Nine percent is good but not good enough. We want to work towards and have farmers achieve 100 percent compliance at all times.”

Environment Bay of Plenty and the region’s dairy industry are committed to working together to solve farmers’ effluent non-compliance issues and improve progress against other Accord targets.

In November 2009, DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, Environment Bay of Plenty, Fonterra and AgResearch agreed to collectively work to find solutions in key areas such as certainty of investment, effluent storage and irrigation, soil conditions and looking at new research, which may better inform decision-making.

Environment Bay of Plenty had increased the percentage of farms with total stock exclusion from Accord waterways, was one of seven regional councils to identify their “regionally significant wetlands”, had signed a Regional Action Plan (RAP) to improve the quality of the Bay of Plenty’s waterways in farming areas and was working in partnership with the dairy and fertiliser industries to deliver nutrient management plans in priority catchments, including Rotorua lakes.

Environment Bay of Plenty Group Manager Land Management Warwick Murray said the regional council was working with farmers to identify the status of the regionally significant wetlands to achieve the RAP target, and was continuing its advisory and funding support for dairy farmers under the new riparian protection programme.

For a copy of the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord Snapshot of Progress 2008/09 please go to www.maf.govt.nz > media centre.

ENDS

© Scoop Media