Canty dairy farmers must improve - report

Nearly one in six farms is failing to fully treat toxic run-off, with Canterbury farms among the worst, a dairy industry review has found.

Nationally, the percentage of farms with significant non-compliance for effluent disposal rose from 12 per cent in the 2007-08 dairy season to 15 per cent in 2008-09, a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry report found.

Full-compliance levels fell from 64 per cent to 60 per cent in the same years.

The report considered farmers' progress towards the dairying and clean streams accord goals, a voluntary initiative to encourage environmentally friendly dairy farming.

Canterbury dairy farmers had the third-worst compliance rate in the country, with only 43 per cent fully complying with the region's regulations.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said he was disappointed by the report's findings.

"We have a good process, and we had good progress, but this is an unsatisfactory situation," he said.

Carter said dairy farmers needed to "own up to their responsibilities" or risk damaging their reputation in overseas markets. "The reputation of the total dairy industry is dependent on reports like these – it's crucial that we have good ratings."

He said the Government would do its best to "show leadership on the issue" and scrutinise the effectiveness of current regulations and compliance reviews.

However, he did not believe more regulation would solve the problem.

"I think the laws and regulations are satisfactory as they are – they just need to be more rigorously enforced."

Environment Canterbury (ECan), which is responsible for monitoring compliance in the region, said it was working hard to improve farmers' compliance rates.

ECan regulation director Kim Drummond said Canterbury's poor rating was due to the stringent regulations the council placed on dairy farms.

"If some run-off goes into our lowland streams, it can have quite a dramatic effect, so we're tougher on it. What qualifies as serious non-compliance here would not necessarily count as serious non-compliance in another region."

Drummond said ECan was encouraging dairy farmers to raise their standards as high as possible, rather than merely aiming for compliance.

Federated Farmers dairy vice-chairman Willy Leferink, a Canterbury farmer, said the results were not a reflection of the dairy industry's approach to the environment.

He said that "99 per cent of farmers want to do right, not wrong".

Leferink said Canterbury's poor rating was due, in part, to the higher standards set by local regulators.

"Different regions have different standards, and we have much higher standards; if even one bit of paper goes into the water here, it's a problem."

Leferink said regional councils needed to ensure farmers understood their obligations.

"The council speaks a different language than farmers – a bureaucratic language – so some farmers don't understand, their staff don't understand."

- © Fairfax NZ News