Greenpeace: Ban farm conversions
Greenpeace wants the Government to immediately ban all farms being converted to dairy but farmers say they have largely stopped anyway.
The environmental group said while it welcomed last week’s announcement of the Government’s plan for cleaner rivers, the changes would happen slower than anticipated.
A National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and new environmental standards had been originally slated for arrival by the end of this year but they have been delayed until 2020.
‘‘We need interim measures such as an immediate ban on dairy conversions and intensification of farms,’’ Greenpeace freshwater campaigner Gen Toop said. ‘‘There are already too many cows for our waterways to cope with. Yet there are new dairy farms being built and existing farms are still adding more cows.’’
Toop singled out the ‘‘precious and fragile’’ catchments of the Mackenzie Basin where 12 people were recently arrested for protesting over the building of a new farm where it was planned to put 15,000 cows on land just south of Lake Pu¯ kaki.
Fonterra and Landcorp have opposed the development, and Federated Farmers has said it is ‘‘not ideal’’.
Feds environment spokesman Chris Allen said there were better measures to ensure clean water than a straight-out ban on new dairy farms or intensification, and other developments such as housing subdivisions also affected water quality.
‘‘There are few conversions happening at the moment anyway. And if you ban dairy, can you then convert to another form of land use that is worse?’’ Allen said.
‘‘All we ask is that the Government uses an even hand. For example, the commitment to getting tougher on nutrient discharges to waterways needs to be applied fairly to both councils, corporates and farmers.
‘‘Kiwis don’t tolerate inequity. Implementing any changes to water policy will require the Government to take the entire community along with it.’’
Allen described the time frame as challenging, but said farmers were continually introducing environmental improvements.
Toop said the Government had promised ‘‘targeted action and investment in at-risk catchments, from now’’, but it was unspecific about what that action will look like.