Water care on-farm
We have made solid progress towards meeting the five targets under the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord since it was introduced in 2003:
• Exclude all stock from waterways
• Bridge or culvert all regular stock crossings
• Eliminate all non-compliant effluent discharge
• Apply nutrients to the land via verified nutrient management plans
• Protect wetlands.
Three of these five components are tracking well against their targets, however the wetland protection component is under development with councils still identifying the wetlands concerned.
We are pleased with the progress made in keeping stock out of waterways. The latest results for the 2007/08 season show that dairy cattle have been excluded from 78 per cent of the rivers, lakes and streams on farms that meet the Accord definition, and the 2012 target of 90 per cent exclusion has already been met in Otago and Southland. Some 97 percent of regular race crossing points now have bridges or culverts, exceeding our target of 50 per cent by 2007.
Almost 99 per cent of Fonterra farmers have in place a nutrient budget – far higher than the one in five farms that had a budget one year into the Accord’s inception. Nutrient budgets have significantly raised awareness of the need to only apply the quantity of fertiliser needed to meet pasture growth requirements – and no more.
In the coming years, we will be continuing to work with the fertiliser industry and our suppliers to turn these budgets into full nutrient management plans, which will further reduce the impact of nutrient loss on the environment. These plans are being implemented in the Waikato (above the Karapiro Dam) and will be rolled out in the Manawatu-Wanganui region (Horizons Regional Council) and elsewhere in New Zealand.
Of more concern is that farm effluent discharge compliance rates are still unsatisfactory. In the 2007/08 season, full compliance with regional council regulations rose to 70 per cent, compared with 68 per cent the year earlier. The overall level of significant non-compliance dropped to an average of about 11 per cent across the 13 regions where Fonterra farmers operate. But those levels are still well short of the 100 per cent compliance target the Accord outlines for dairy farm effluent discharge.
To address this, Fonterra has introduced an Effluent Improvement System to deal with farmers who persistently don’t comply with regional council effluent standards. Through the scheme, these farmers are required to commit to a management plan to improve performance or face a financial deduction and ultimately the possibility of not having their milk collected. The system aims to reduce significant non-compliance by 50 per cent by August 2011. Fonterra takes effluent management very seriously and is working one-on-one with non-complying farmers to help them improve.
Fonterra is also working with farmers who use irrigation to lift their water awareness and make more efficient use of water for irrigation. We’re exploring ways to increase in-shed water use efficiency and providing information to farmers to allow them to improve their systems.
Research
Together with our industry partners, Fonterra is investing in research to look at nutrient use efficiency of dairy farms in the Upper Waikato River catchment. We are trying to find out how we can best reduce nutrient leaching, which may be contributing to rising nutrient levels in waterways.
Primary Sector Water Partnership
Fonterra is part of the Primary Sector Water Partnership - a group of major primary sector organisations committed to the sustainable use of freshwater resources. The Partnership aims to make significant improvements in water use efficiency throughout the primary sector over time.
Together with the Primary Sector Water Partnership, we’re striving for more challenging targets. We aim that by 2013, 80 per cent of nutrients applied to land throughout the country are managed through independent quality assured nutrient budgets and management plans.
It has some ambitious targets:
Nutrient Management
• By 2013, 80 per cent of nutrients applied to land nationally are managed through quality assured nutrient budgets and nutrient management plans.
• By 2016, 1.7 million hectares of intensively farmed land will have implemented nutrient management plans.
Industry “Good practice” benchmarks of water use
• By 2016, 80 per cent of extracted water used by the partners will be self-managed to meet industry “good practice” benchmarks for water use.
Sediment and Microbial Management
• By 2010, all forestry land, and by 2016, 1.7 million hectares of intensively farmed land, will have implemented a management programme to minimise microbial and sediment deposits in waterways.
• Download Primary Sector Water Partnership [PDF 1.1MB]
Land and Water Forum
Fonterra is a member of the Land and Water Forum, set up by the New Zealand Government. It comprises a range of industry groups, environmental and recreational non-governmental organisations, Iwi and other groups with an interest in land and water management. We are collaborating with other members to reach a consensus on water management. The Forum will report to the New Zealand Government in mid-2010.
Riparian planting
Fonterra is working with regional councils to encourage our farmers to plant riparian margins along waterways to prevent nutrients, including fertiliser and effluent, from flowing into them.
In Taranaki, for example, the Taranaki Regional Council has led a programme to protect existing or establish new riparian planting along 17,500km of stream banks. The success of this programme, along with the region’s robust compliance programme and community partnership approach to environmental management, showed during the dry 2007/08 summer in Taranaki, when stream temperatures and biological stress were noticeably lower at 16 sites monitored in the region using a macro-invertebrate biological index.
