Barrie fights back on behalf of the NZ dairy industry

Over the last few months we have been hearing more from the antidairy groups around NZ

Yes I am a semi-retired dairy farmer, have been involved in Federated Farmers since the age of 23, been a councillor on the Stratford County Council and Stratford District Council plus spent a term on our regional council.

It is this period of research, development and hands-on involvement that makes me very confident our dairying and agriculture in Taranaki and New Zealand is in good heart.

I don’t say this ignoring the fact that, like any industry, there can be a nasty side if not monitored and controlled. So over the last few weeks I have been devoting time to talking, reading and studying the subject. The easy option if you are an anti- is to blame farming and, in particular, dairying.

But if you study the facts you will then understand the huge effort and resources that go into ensuring that our farming operations are environmentallyfriendly and sustainable. In my previous columns I have continually praised and shown my support to those early pioneers who carved out our beautiful farmlands and towns and for the foresight shown by all those who served on all our councils.

I have just read a book called The Good, The Global and The Gripes. This is a book outlining the commitments to New Zealand made by 10,500 Fonterra shareholding farmers. They say: ‘‘We are proud of our co-operative and we accept that there is a huge public interest in our co-op and we rightly have to stand up to the scrutiny of all Kiwis. Therefore we want to be the best we can in all aspects of our operations and meet the expectations Kiwis have of us!’’

To me this says so much about this massive industry. Here are just a few facts:

Fonterra has 10,500 suppliers, then as well we have a few other smaller dairy co-ops. Fonterra exports 95 per cent of its products, which feed one billion of the world’s 7.4 billion people.

In Taranaki Fonterra employs 2620 locals and globally over 22,000. This company brings in almost $1 billion annually to our Taranaki economy and 25 per cent of national wealth.

Fonterra sponsors a ‘‘milk for schools program’’ into 1455 schools, feeding 140,000 kids per day at a cost to suppliers of $10m annually. As well, Fonterra is providing over 125,000 Kiwi kids with milk and Weetbix every week.

Then there is the monitoring side of our farming operations through our Taranaki Regional Council, which lays down conditions that every dairy farmer must comply with, such as the approved method of discharging cowshed effluent to ground by either oxidation ponds or by spray irrigation.

In Taranaki our dairy farmers have also committed themselves to riparian methods, planting 14,000 kilometres of stream banks with 4.3 million native trees at a cost to them of $1 billion across New Zealand.

Recently the TRC has released its ‘‘Regional Fresh Water Ecological Quality Monitoring Results’’ which shows that our rivers and streams are in good shape regardless of negative comment by some.

This report can be viewed on www.trc.govt.nz where you can see for yourself the condition of our beautiful rivers.

The main point I am trying to make is that before anyone can contemplate sending a litre of milk to a factory you must comply with all these rigorous conditions, which I am sure will get even stricter over time.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a copy of a letter published by Malcolm Lumsden of Waikato. Like myself and thousands of other Kiwis he is fed up with the criticism we continually hear about dirty dairying in NZ and has very eloquently written a rebuttal.

Malcolm was President of Waikato Federated Farmers at the same time I was here in Taranaki, from 1985-89, with us both going through the Rogernomics period and standing up and fighting for a level playing field.

He goes on to say that this rhetoric has now infiltrated the Waikato Regional Council who through Plan 1 intend demanding farmers in the Taupo region provide their annual accounts. What madness.

If any Taranaki Daily News reader would like a copy of Malcolm’s letter please contact me on barrie.r.smith@gmail.com