Forest & Bird concerned at dairy farmers’ declining environmental performance

Independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird is concerned that the environmental performance of dairy farmers is getting worse.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord snapshot is disappointing. It shows that the average level of significant non-compliance by dairy farmers increased from 12 per cent to 15 per cent in the past year.

“That’s a 25 per cent increase in serious non-compliance. It’s unacceptable that we are going backwards on environmental standards after seven years of the accord and with all that’s known about the impacts of intensive dairying on our waterways,” he says.

The worst regions are Northland (where 27 per cent of dairy farmers significantly failed to meet accord targets), Auckland (23 per cent), Waikato (20 per cent) and Canterbury (19 per cent).

Of the accord’s five targets, just two are being met – fencing streams and bridging waterways for cattle crossing.

The report card shows farmers have failed to make progress in the past year toward the other three targets – meeting regional plan and resource consent standards, managing nutrients and fencing regionally significant wetlands.

“A significant minority of dairy farmers are getting away with completely unacceptable practices in areas where regional councils are not keeping tabs on them,” Kevin Hackwell says.

Regional councils that are taking monitoring and enforcement seriously and are working closely with dairy farmers are making progress. For instance, in Wellington region, significant non-compliance has dropped from 28 per cent to 4 per cent. “Wellington is a role model for other regions,” Kevin Hackwell says. “The non-performing farmers and the non-performing regional councils are letting down the entire country.”

ENDS

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