Ravensdown innovation and strategy general manager Mike Manning says there is debate over whether the environmental effects of food production should be calculated by hectare or by unit of food produced.
“If globally we want to continue to feed the world with the least impact environmentally then it is important to have the lowest footprint per unit of food and to maintain the investment in technology to reduce this footprint. To do otherwise simply has a worse global environmental outcome.”
In their research Manning, Jacqueline Rowarth and Ans Roberts looked at the production and environmental aspects of organic and conventional systems, taking into account economic aspects such as government subsidies.
“We’ve used the data available to compare yields to nutrient losses and greenhouse gases, both per kilogram of production and per hectare.
“Focussing on NZ’s environmental impact of milk production per hectare of land and per kg of milk solid (MS) we compared the results with data from Sweden and Germany. The NZ system had three-fold lower eutrophication potential and acidification potential per kg of milk, two-fold lower energy use and land use, and 50% to 80% lower global warming potential.
“Even compared to Swedish and German organic farm systems, NZ milk production potential impacts per kg of milk were similar or most often lower, than those from Sweden and Germany.”
Manning says NZ produces high quality food with the least environmental impact per unit of food produced and to do otherwise risks both the global environment and global farmer profitability.
