“Our announcement picks up what farmers have already done because their voice is not being heard loudly enough,” he said.
“Over the past five years dairy farmers spent more than $1 billion on environmental initiatives and fenced more than 98% of significant waterways on farms.
“The campaign vows to continue what farmers have already done over the past decade and is not about Fonterra publishing a rule book for farmers.”
Fonterra’s announcement included six commitments to promote healthier waterways:
They were to:
Farm within regional environmental limits;
Encourage strong environmental farming practices;
Reduce water use and improve wastewater quality at manufacturing plants;
Build partnerships to improve waterway health;
Invest in science and innovation to find new solutions and;
Make the products people value most.
Each of the commitments was backed by targets and action plans.
They included working constructively with regional councils, a budget of $250 million over nine years to achieve water use reductions at Fonterra’s 26 processing sites and a doubling of the network of sustainable dairy advisers from 14 to 30.
The scheme was immediately criticised by Greenpeace and Fish and Game for making empty promises and conducting flashy promotional campaigns.
Fish and Game said Fonterra had belatedly realised it had to do something quickly to meet public demand for better water quality rather than spending on slick media campaigns to promote the dairy industry.
Both organisations claimed the real problem was dairy intensification and the obvious remedy was a reduction in cow numbers in the regions with the most acute fresh water quality issues.
Hurrell said those critics had responded predictably and he doubted they had visited dairy farms to see what had been achieved environmentally.
A chance to see farms would be provided on December 10 when 40 dairy farms in eight dairying regions throughout the country opened their gates to people.
It would be the largest open day of its type, providing first-hand information about cow numbers, management practices, effluent systems, irrigation, riparian planting and environmental care.
“Some parts of the media would have members of the public believe that nothing is being done onfarm to improve the environment, especially water quality, so this is an opportunity to show what has been done and continues to be done.”
However, the co-operative recognised it needed to do more, hence its partnership with the Department of Conservation in Living Waters and the recent announcement by chief executive Theo Spierings on plans to help restore 50 catchments.
Fonterra was now consulting all regional councils on a scoping exercise to see what needed to be done and the priority order, Hurrell said.
It was also speaking to farmers, community groups and iwi about partnerships to help clean up catchments.
For the second waterways commitment Fonterra was recruiting and training an extra 16 sustainability advisers, who would work with farmers on farm environment plans.
Those advisers used a digital framework and therefore didn’t have to start from scratch with every farm.
Fonterra also intended to have water meters on all irrigated dairy farms and 80% of non-irrigated farms by 2020.
The standards expected in waterways would be specified in the supply terms for farmers and if those standards were not being met Fonterra would provide help.
In response to questions about reluctant farmers or situations where waterway fencing wasn’t practical, Hurrell said co-operation not compulsion would be paramount.
“We do not want to force impractical rules onto our farmers.”
The great majority of farmers did not see environmental work as a burden but a necessary part of their land stewardship and licence to farm.
Researchers and application developers were working on real-time, interactive monitoring of lakes and rivers using data generated by the Living Waters projects.
On its own processing sites Fonterra was committed to reduce water use by 20% by 2020.
It would also improve wastewater quality over a longer time frame by treatment and recycling facilities or by onfarm irrigation or by further treatment before consented discharge into rivers or oceans.
“The money will ensure that we meet leading industry standards for wastewater discharge and in many cases we will exceed the regulatory standards,” Hurrell said.
Commitment six on value-add products signalled the intention for grass-fed certification to be attached to Fonterra’s ingredients – milk powders, cheese, butter and other commodities.
That would be rolled out in the same way the Trusted Goodness seal was being progressively attached to consumer-ready products and have the high standards of tracing and verifying, Hurrell said.
“The certification standards have not been published yet but we are confident that grazing practices on the great majority of NZ farms will enable us to make that grass-fed claim.”
Fonterra farmers would have access to the full statement and its back-up documents online and by posted booklet if requested, Hurrell said.
