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Not in our back paddock!

Home » Blog » Sarah Heeringa » Not in our back paddock!

What do a UK supermarket chain, Michael Pollan and Jamie Oliver all have in common? They all think factory dairy farming is a bad idea for New Zealand.

In the last days of 2009, the prospect of indoor dairy farming gaining a foothold in the pristine MacKenzie basin got more than a few folks hot under the collar. A Facebook group in opposition to the three applications attracted more than 25,000 members. Environment Canterbury (ECan) received more than 3,000 submissions on the first two applications alone.

The consent process has now been 'called in' by the Minister for the Environment, and consent will be decided by a Ministry-appointed Board of Inquiry chaired by the Environment Court's Judge Bothwick. The proposals will soon be publicly notified for a second time, so members of the public will have a second chance to make a submission. Animal welfare concerns will not be dealt with by the Board of Inquiry, so it's best to leave these out of your submission.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other ways to have a say!

Here are a few things you can do:

  • Send a letter to your local MP or David Carter, Minister for Agriculture
  • Send a letter to the companies making the applications:

    Southdown Holdings Ltd
    PO Box 5481
    Tauranga

    Five Rivers Ltd
    434 Omihi Rd
    Waipara RD3
    Amberley

    Williamson Holdings Ltd
    PO Box 5481
    Tauranga
  • Contact Fonterra directly, either by phone (09-374 9000), by email, or by sending a letter to:

Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd
9 Princes St
Auckland Central
Private Bag 92032
Auckland

  • Check out the Farm Geek website for lots of helpful background info
  • And see the Green Party's wbsite for more
example of a draft letter

(Put the letter into your own words before sending)

Dear Minister

I am concerned about the negative impact on our international reputation if New Zealand allows the establishment intensive indoor dairy farming in the MacKenzie Basin. As you well know, New Zealand produce is marketed all over the world on the back of our clean, green image: pastoral farming based on grass and sunshine.

Our agricultural and horticultural trade (and to a similar extent, our tourism) relies on the cultivation of our clean, green image in the eyes of the rest of the world. Whether it’s for the sake of ethics, or to protect local producers, many of our overseas markets will not hesitate to marginalise NZ imports given the opportunity. Once we introduce factory dairy farming (or any factory farming) our products will have to compete on price alone as our unique point of difference vanishes.

The Mackenzie Country is a major drawcard for international tourists, and the gateway to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. Over 200,000 international tourists visit the National Park each year. I am concerned that the establishment intensive indoor dairy farming in the MacKenzie Basin will put the majestic Upper Waitaki and important recreational lakes such as Lakes Benmore and Aviemore are at risk of contamination from effluent and nutrient runoff

The Mackenzie Country is also an iconic brown tussock landscape. This unique and fragile environment will also be radically altered by irrigation and intensive dairying

The Mackenzie is important habitat for threatened plants and birds which rely on a dry tussockland habitat. The factory farms will be heavily reliant on supplementary feed being trucked in from elsewhere, resulting in a high carbon footprint. That feed may include palm kernel expeller (PKE); which is known to contribute to deforestation in South East Asia.

New Zealand’s tradition of farming animals outside and on pasture is integral to our clean, green image and our competitive advantage. News that New Zealand dairy products come from factory farmed cows will undermine our international brand, which is unfair to the many good farmers who are farming sustainably.

Water quality

•    The consent applications include effluent ponds with 414 million litres of storage capacity and plans to put as much as 1.7 million litres of diluted effluent onto the land every day. This will produce the effluent equivalent to a city of 270,000 people in the Mackenzie Country

•    The majestic Upper Waitaki & important recreational lakes such as Lakes Benmore and Aviemore are at risk of contamination from effluent and nutrient runoff 

Environment

•    The Mackenzie Country is an iconic brown tussock landscape. This unique and fragile environment will be radically altered by irrigation and intensive dairying
•    The Mackenzie is important habitat for threatened plants and birds which rely on a dry tussockland habitat
•    The factory farms will be heavily reliant on supplementary feed being trucked in from elsewhere, resulting in a high carbon footprint. It is likely that feed will include palm kernel expeller (PKE); which contributes to deforestation in South East Asia

Animal health and welfare:

•    It is cruel to house cows inside without fresh air and sunlight for 8 months of the year and for 12 hours a day during summer
•    Animals confined in close quarters are at greater risk of injury and infection and are likely to need controlling with antibiotics

Tourism and international brand

•    The Mackenzie Country is a major drawcard for international tourists, and the gateway to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. Over 200,000 international tourists visit the National Park each year
•    New Zealand’s tradition of farming animals outside and on pasture is integral to our clean, green image and our competitive advantage. News that New Zealand dairy products come from factory farmed cows will undermine our international brand, which is unfair to the many good farmers who are farming sustainably.

Comments

James
 
Tue March 02, 2010 @ 11:33 AM
Hi There 
 I am a committed environmentalist and am setting up technology that will help to clean up at least some of dairys problem issues. I can't help but think that this campaign is misguided. I have worked for years on farms and on the conservation side as well and have a good understanding of the issue here.
Wouldn't it be better to have cows dropping effluent in a controlled area (inside) rather than where it can run-off into rivers and streams in times of high rainfall (winter)? 
Surely the biggest problem is with management of effluent and therefore water quality? If this is properly managed (and this should be regulated to a country wide standard)  it has to be better than the current strategy. 
I worked for some time on the black stilt management programme also and the birds are only hanging out in the rivers and streams (that I saw). the rest is a desert that is losing soil, filling up with wildling pines and rosehips. Surely being able to use this resource sustainably is better that the current desertification/ runoff model. 
Food for thought perhaps 
Annabel McAleer
 
Tue March 02, 2010 @ 12:17 PM
Thanks for your input James -- it's always great to hear from environmentalists who challenge 'traditional' green thinking. You've got some good points about effluent management. Problem is, I think the plan is to gather up all the effluent safely stored indoors, then spray most of it around outside. Please do correct me if I'm wrong! 
Tony
 
Sat June 26, 2010 @ 07:32 AM
I agree with James! again there are systems now which can turn effluent into green energy, I have created one! from catching all effluent from sheds,dewatering it into useable fertilizer and irrigation, drying & usting biomass to make biochar and elctricity, rather than knock down innovative people how about looking at the overall picture, Land that isnt used, fertilise & irragate with treated liquid, use the biomass to generate clean green electricity, inert ash back into ground to create better grass growth! these guys want to farm 20000 cows, my system will generate 8.2 million kw of electricity from cow manure per year, reduce 456 tons of CO2 in atmosphere per year, and 1350 tons of carbon back to ground to improve soil condition & storage, compliant filtrate for irrigation of paddocks, less water reliance of water from rivers etc as recycling 356m lts of filtrate on property. Again if I was a cow I would certainly prefer to spend the nights in a shed than out in a field!!
Take your blinkers off and look to the future and solve the problem, like i have! regards Tony Environemtal engineer.

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