Ray Grubb | January 25, 2021 from GlobalHQ on Vimeo.
Dirty dairying has gone.
The term, coined by Fish & Game NZ (FGNZ) to describe the environmental impact of dairy farming, has been widely vilified by farmers and credited with the deteriorating relationship between anglers, hunters and farmers.
New FGNZ chair Ray Grubb agrees and promises to dispense with the campaign in what he says will be a less antagonistic approach to farmers under his reign.
Grubb promises to be less confrontational with farmers and farming groups, to cooperate and show mutual respect and to agree to disagree on issues.
This approach has been endorsed by FGNZ’s national council and will build on the strong community relationships the organisation has at regional level, but which Grubb says is missing at the national level.
This new co-operative approach does not mean FGNZ is diverting from its role of advocating for clean, fresh water and the trout fishery, but Grubb says its focus will be on influencing regional council rules and regulations.
A new approach is needed to acknowledge that society was concerned about the environment, and that groups such as farmers were also making changes.
“The tide has shifted and more people are doing good things for the environment,” Grubb said.
“The farming industry’s focus has also shifted to what can be achieved with conservation rather than what can be used without care.”
If a water quality or quantity issue arises, Grubb wants FGNZ to be able to talk constructively with Federated Farmers, DairyNZ or Beef + Lamb NZ.
“We’ll differ on some things and agree on others,” he said.
One example of this change is the approach to water storage, which Grubb says has a place provided it enhances summer low flows in rivers and streams and allows for flushing.
“I don’t think enough attention and enough money has been spent on it (water storage),” he said.
“The cheaper option is to take more water out of the rivers.”
He described the FGNZ dirty dairying campaign initiated by former chief executive Bryce Johnson, as aggressively worded and adopted by other groups, but FGNZ will not use it again.
“It served a purpose and will not be used again,” he said.
“The community has moved beyond that. Dairy farmers have moved beyond that.”
It had come at a cost with a noticeable increase in landowners curbing access to fishermen and hunters over their land to waterways.
This was an incongruent situation for Grubb who was raised with the view that fishing and hunting was a NZ birthright and access based on 150 years of cooperation with landowners.
Farmers, who are personal friends built during the 35 years he has been fishing and hunting, gave him a blunt assessment of the damage FGNZ and its dirty dairying campaign has done to those relationships.
He says they have been able to have frank discussions about issues and agree to disagree on some, while still maintaining their friendship.
This should be able to occur at a national level.
In addition to the growing community awareness of water quality and quantity, Grubb says the increasing use of technology and tools such as farm plans will assist farmers reduce their impact on waterways.
Grubb spent the initial 17 years of his career working as a public servant for Foreign Affairs and then the NZ Electricity Department.
For the subsequent 17 years he and his late wife Marian van der Goes ran the Brunner Lodge, a tourism business on the West Coast.
Grubb operated a fishing guide business while his wife ran the lodge.
His relationship with farmers was enhanced during this period, with farming families employed by the lodge and local farmers hosting their tourists to provide an insight into agriculture.
It was while dealing with tourists that Grubb says he realised just how spectacular NZ’s environment was.
“You see it through their eyes and begin to appreciate what we’ve got,” he said.
“We’re born to it, so don’t always see the same value.
“Environmental credentials come to you.”
They sold the business in 2001 and moved to the coastal Otago town of Karitane before spending the next three years driving from Singapore to London.
On returning to NZ Grubb worked as a consultant, held governance and company directorships and served on the Otago Fish & Game council from 2009-15 before taking a three-year break for personal reasons.
He was successfully re-elected in 2018 and last year elected as a national councillor.
Last November he replaced chair Paul Shortis who stood down for personal reasons.
But any honeymoon was short-lived with the organisation’s chief executive for the previous three years, Martin Taylor, resigning just prior Christmas.
Grubb says Taylor resigned to pursue different options and FGNZ is on the hunt for a replacement.
Also looming is the first government review of the organisation in 35 years, which he expects to be released in late February-early March.
Grubb, who now lives in Wanaka, says his tenure will be judged by the quality of rules adopted by regional councils and the subsequent quality and quantity of water flowing in our waterways.
But he also wants better relationships between anglers, hunters, landowners and farming groups, and says central to that will be mutual respect and replicating nationally the community links that already exist at FGNZ regional level.
