31/05/2006
- Dairy farmers are making significant progress
in implementing farm practices to improve water
quality in New Zealand's freshwater rivers and
streams, a new report shows.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister
Jim Anderton and Minister for the Environment
David Benson-Pope today released a progress report
outlining results from the second year of the
Dairying and Clean Streams Accord.
The Accord, introduced in 2004,
is a partnership between Fonterra, regional councils
and central government to improve water quality
in areas where Fonterra shareholders farm. It
sets targets for farmers to exclude dairy cattle
from streams, rivers and lakes; build bridges
or culverts for regular crossing-points; comply
with resource consents for the discharge of effluent;
have in place nutrient management plans; and fence
regionally significant wetlands.
The report shows 72 per cent
of dairy farms now exclude stock from their waterways
– exceeding the 50 percent target set for 2007.
In addition, 93 per cent of farmers have bridged
or culverted waterway crossings regularly used
by stock, again in excess of the 2007 target of
50 percent.
However, it noted that progress
against the nutrient management target had been
slower, with just 19 per cent of farmers currently
having systems in place to manage nutrients. Fonterra
is now focusing more on this target.
“The Dairying and Clean Streams
Accord continues to demonstrate the success of
an industry-led approach to deal with environmental
issues,” said Mr Anderton.
Mr Benson-Pope said the Accord
is an excellent example of the kind of partnerships
supported by government through the Sustainable
Water Programme of Action, which was released
last month.
Under a new monitoring and reporting
strategy, the Ministry for the Environment, will
now lead measuring and monitoring of the environmental
benefits of the Accord’s targets, with the help
of regional councils.
The success of the Accord has
recently been recognised by the wider dairy industry,
with the inclusion of Accord targets in Dairy
Insight’s Industry Strategy for Sustainable Environmental
Management. This strategy places a special emphasis
on nutrient management as a primary focus for
industry investment.
The report Snapshot of Progress
2004/2005 is available on www.mfe.govt.nz
or www.maf.govt.nz
