Farmer fears cutting stock only way to meet standards
A Taranaki farmer fears he will have to cut stock numbers to meet increasingly onerous environmental standards.
The dairy farmer – who RNZ has agreed not to identify – was attending one of a series of Taranaki Regional Council drop-in events designed to get public feedback on targets for its new Taranaki Land and Freshwater Plan.
At the events, people can get information on and offer opinions about E. coli levels in the region’s rivers and streams, animal effluent systems, water allocation, sediment loads, storm and wastewater discharges and fish passages among other topics.
One of the more stark messages at the Inglewood event was that E. coli loads needed to reduce 50% on average to meet draft environmental outcomes for fresh water and in some cases by up to 80%.
The farmer, who owns two dairy properties, said he was unsure what more people working in the sector could do.
“I haven’t got an answer for that ...
We’ve been trying for such a long time. We’ve been planting, everything is fenced, so I’m not sure where to head to from here. Maybe less cows on the land, that’s probably the next step.”
He said most farmers were on board with making changes and didn’t want to see a return to the practices of the past.
“I know when I was a young fella, effluent was just hosed out and it went straight to the river and at milking times the rivers were green and that’s gone. I’m going back ... we’re talking 45 years ago.”
Egmont Village dairy farmer Mark Duynhoven thought farming practices were more environmentally sound than ever. “If I take our situation, we’ve planted probably 5000 riparian plants, we are using slow-release phosphate fertiliser, our nitrogen fertiliser is probably down by twothirds and our stocking rate is probably less than it was five years ago.”
Duynhoven was concerned about a proposal for outside experts to evaluate effluent systems. “When there’s a requirement to use consultants, they will generally charge a lot and it’s just adding cost to our business for no real gain.
"We get a yearly inspection from the Taranaki Regional Council inspector and it’s pretty obvious if your effluent pond is leaking or not."
Regional council director of operations Daniel Harrison said it wanted to understand what the public wanted from an environmental perspective.. Feedback from farmers had been largely positive.