Govt will stay out of cubicle dairy row

The Government is unlikely to intervene in the consent process for proposed cubicle dairying in the Upper Waitaki Basin.

The Green Party asked it to do so, but yesterday Environment Minister Nick Smith said unless the proposed consents posed serious animal welfare or water quality issues, then it was unlikely to "call in" the consent applications.

"We understand possible harm to animal health and water quality are serious national issues," Dr Smith said.

"However, our Environment Ministry will not get involved until we have all the information about the consents."

After heated debate on the issue in Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister John Key said "the Government doesn't support it [cubicle dairying] ".

Last month, the Herald reported three dairy companies – Five Rivers, Southdown Holdings and Williamson Holdings – lodged consent applications with Environment Canterbury.

Should the proposed consents go ahead, the companies would install more than a dozen free-standing dairy farms, capable of holding more than 17,000 cows over 8000 hectares. The cows would be installed in cubicles for 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, and 12 hours a day for the remaining four months.

Applications include effluent ponds with 414 million litres of storage capacity and plans to put up to 1.7 million litres of diluted effluent onto the land every day.

Green Party MP Jeanette Fitzsimons said the proposed consents could place undue pressure on the region.

"We all know how beautiful and precious the area is, and how fragile its climate is. That level of farming could put huge strains on the region's climate, and there is a huge risk of effluent runoff into lakes Ohau, Tekapo and Pukaki."

She said the project should be "called in" as a project of national significance, which means the Government would oversee the process.

Five Rivers, Southdown Holdings and Williamson Holdings have already received certificates of compliance for land use consent for intensive farming and earthworks from the Waitaki District Council.

"Fonterra's marketing prides itself on our clean green image, with images of cows grazing free in fields, so this practice of cubicle farming would completely undermine the good work of so many farmers," Ms Fitzsimons said.

"This is completely different to the herd homes, where cows are allowed to roam free and then return to their cubicles for shelter and health, these cows will be in their cubicles for up to 24 hours a day."

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the party would lodge a submission against the consents.

"There are four issues we have with these consents. The first is an animal welfare issue. The second is the effects it will have on the water quality.

"The third is the intensity of these operations. But the fourth, and most important, is the change it will have on the Mackenzie Basin.

"People come to visit its dry tussock country, and it is an important area ecologically. We're worried about the place being transformed by irrigation circles."

Southdown Holdings director Richard Peacocke invited the Green Party "to study the detailed farm environmental management plans and meet with the applicants to understand just what is proposed and then they could comment with some knowledge".

He said it was important that every opportunity to increase production of food should be encouraged rather than attacking those prepared to achieve this very goal.

Dr Norman said: "I would be more than happy to meet with Mr Peacocke. But let's be honest, it is disingenuous of him to suggest that his aims are wholly altruistic. This is a big scale business interested in investment for profit."

- © Fairfax NZ News