Perception of farmers disputed

Dairy farmers spilling cow effluent were seen by the public as more of a threat to society than drink-drivers or murderers, Southland dairy farmer Mike Horgan told a dairy industry conference in Invercargill yesterday.

His daughter Bridget, 19, and two friends, Megan Hamilton, 22, of Winton, and Virginia Armstrong, 22, were killed by a drink-driver on Good Friday in 1995.

Mr Horgan told delegates at the NZ Large Herds conference at Stadium Southland about his shift from Taranaki to Southland in 1994, and the challenges he had faced, including criticism from sheep farmers. While he admitted the dairy industry could be let down by mediocrity, Mr Horgan criticised the public and the media's willingness to condemn dairy farmers.

"There seems to be a consensus across our nation that a dairy farmer spilling a little biodegradable effluent is far more of a threat to society than a drunk driver or murderer," he said.

"The justice system and the media make a meal out of some farmer's effluent spill with regular front-page updates and threat of imprisonment, yet each day in this country, drivers still drive drunk (but) no-one shames these offenders to the same extent.

"Yet the possibilities of their action could irrevocably change the lives of families through tragedy. Let us get things in perspective."

Southland dairy farmers were expected to meet stringent environmental standards, Mr Horgan said.

Niwa and AgResearch had been regularly monitoring water and soil quality in the catchment where he farms during the past eight years, he said.

"To date, despite cow numbers constantly on the increase, water quality has changed little, if at all, in that eight-year period."

Mr Horgan also took a swipe at actor Sam Neill's opposition to plans to house 18,000 cows indoors in the MacKenzie Basin, and the willingness of the "gullible public" to accept his comments without question.

"I would suggest his statement that `dairying was short-lived and the damage to the landscape was everlasting' is obviously a line from one of his fairytale films."

Mr Horgan converted a 160ha sheep farm near Winton to dairy in 1994, building a 44-bale rotary cowshed. He was one of about 75 North Island migrants that arrived that year.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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