Handful of farmers cause great damage
They account for just a fraction of the nation’s dairy industry, yet the damage they do to the environment and their industry’s reputation is profound.
Some were young sharemilkers at the start of their careers, others were old timers with clean records and decades of experience. One was a former Federated Farmers regional leader and prospective MP. Another was a candidate for an environmental award.
Some have offended before, others made a careless mistake and are genuinely remorseful. Some were companies, some were family trusts.
All have been responsible for actions that have damaged our waterways and added to the accumulating degradation.
Stuff has been collecting figures on the number of convictions for ‘‘dirty-dairying’’ offences since 2009/10. These figures represent the most serious offending.
It has resulted in a conviction, or the issuing of an abatement or infringement notice.
The offending has affected streams, rivers and waterways in all corners of the country, but the 21 convictions have involved just a tiny fraction of the 8000 farm owners and 4000 sharemilkers.
One case involved that of former chair of Southland Federated Farmers, Allan Baird, and his companies Vendale Ltd and Benlyon Ltd, where an irrigator gun that was supposed to have automatically turned off, but kept running for 16 hours overnight.
Effluent could be seen more than 2.5km downstream and discoloration was visible days later. Baird withdrew his candidacy to become an MP as a result of the prosecution in June, which saw him and the companies fined
‘‘There is a group of farmers who know what’s right and they’re doing it, but there’s a significant group who know what they need to do but refuse to change old farming practices.’’
Fish and Game chief executive Martin Taylor
$39,600. Another to be convicted was Warren MacPherson, 71, who farms near Invercargill. He was convicted in December after one of his staff had left an irrigator running for 18 hours without checking on it.
MacPherson, chair of the Makarewa River Guidance Group and in the running for an environmental award, was visibly stressed as he appeared before Judge Dwyer in Invercargill District Court, and fined $41,250.
Then there was Tirohanga Farms Ltd, on Matakana Island near Tauranga. Effluent flowing into a stream on the farm in October last year put the stream’s faecal coliform level 67,000 times higher than the safe recreational bathing level.
Fish and Game chief executive Martin Taylor said there might be a small number of offenders but they had a huge impact.
‘‘There is a group of farmers who know what’s right and they’re doing it, but there’s a significant group who know what they need to do but refuse to change old farming practices, or they’re so heavily leveraged that they can’t invest in changing to become a sustainable dairy farm. Then you’ve got the small group who know they’re doing wrong and don’t care. They’re a minority, but the impact they have is significant,’’ Taylor said.
DairyNZ water quality scientist Aslan Wright-Stow said the figures represented the very worst offenders.
‘‘We certainly don’t condone the tiny per cent of farmers doing this. I think the compliance message is getting through to the vast majority. There are mistakes, and there are a very few who think ‘to hell with it’. Our big aim is to get farmers up to speed with what their responsibilities are,’’ he said.