Half of all dairy farms inspected by Environment Southland are polluting rivers and waterways to such an extent that they are liable for prosecution.
Dairy Farmers seem to have grown in arrogance because of the important place the industry holds in our economy. Dairy farmers are making good money and there is no excuse, that in the race for bigger profits, the amenities the rest of the community own and enjoy are degraded in the process.
Tourism is also a vital income stream for this country and fishing is a big drawcard- in fact its a poster child for the tourism industry. But the arrogance of the dairy industry is squashing the face of tourism deep in a muddy green eutrophic mire.
Environment Southland has a obligation to get tough with dairy farmers. This level of non- compliance is not acceptable. If it is possible for half of all dairy farmers to comply then it is possible for all dairy farmers to comply.
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I think so too. There's more to come on this.
http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/2011/05/dairy-farmers-slammed-in-south.html
I'm not in anyway defending those slackasses in the dairy industry who aren't doing their bit.....but a look at the Southland Times story this am would suggest a slightly different angle to the story.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/5011760/Farms-face-legal-action-for-effluent
According to the figures published the actual rate of compliance (the complince ranking of individual properties) inproved significantly from last year with about 20 percent more given the highest ranking and 20 percent less given the lowest ranking. Still the ES compliance manager says ...blah, blah not good enough.
For sure..... but I do wonder how much of it is patch protection. The compliance section at ES has grown exponentially over the last 10 years from 4 staff in the early 2000's to a cast of thousands. Now what would all those good folks do if all the dairy farms were clean and shiny. Much better to shrill about it to justify the hugely inflated empire (....maybe someone should ask Mr Hunter about his budget issues last year) than take a more constructive approach that, while the compliance record is much improved, it still needs to be lifted across the board.
..and I'm not sure the compliance stats equate with your thesis that 'Dairy Farmers seem to have grown in arrogance'. The improvement reported would suggest that at a sizeable proportion of cow fiddlers in Southland are making an effort.
I have worked along side Mark Hunter. Let me tell you, that pedantic fellow has a barrow to push – but god knows what the barrow is or where it’s supposed to go. Southland has much dirtier water coming from towns (point source discharge) than it does from dairy farms (non-point source discharge). If you go to the Iron Bridge, near Winton and assess the water there you will find it is the dirtiest of all surface water in Southland. Indeed, if you run the surface water in most of Southland though dairy land, it will come out the other end cleaner for the experience.
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