Greenie groups that sought to bolster their fundraising campaigns by targeting dairy farmers needed to read the latest Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord (SD:WA) report, Federated Farmers dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard said.
The facts and figures in the report showed how seriously dairy farmers took their environmental responsibilities, he said.
"None of us are claiming we’re perfect or that there is no problem with dairy’s impact on waterways.
“But the latest report shows the strenuous and ongoing efforts the vast majority of dairy farmers are making to lessen their environmental footprint," Hoggard said.
Such comments were interpreted by mainstream media as dairy farmers fighting back against continual criticism, as they were “fed up and not going to take it anymore”.
Massey University freshwater ecologist Mike Joy called the SD:WA report a propaganda exercise that completely misrepresented the damage being done by dairying to water quality.
By fencing only larger waterways, cows were able access smaller tributaries.
“We are trying to keep pathogens and pollution out of waterways but smaller streams feed into larger ones.
“Also nitrogen gets into waterways through leaching and groundwater; not mitigated by riparian fencing.”
Hoggard said the water accord addressed waterways of a certain size, “not every trickle”, in order to achieve manageable goals.
Minor waterways might be next, as part of a catchment by catchment approach, he said.
The whole SD:WA exercise was a big challenge, especially the auditing process that ensured the results from each dairy company was lined up.
The Green Party welcomed the progress made in excluding dairy cattle from waterways, which along with stock crossings and nutrient management planes, were the first steps in cleaning up rivers, lakes, and aquifers.
But spokesperson Eugenie Sage repeated calls for reduction in cow numbers and intensive nitrogen fertiliser usage.
A Green Party in government would require all stock to be fenced out of waterways, wind up subsidies for large-scale irrigation schemes, and put a moratorium on new dairy conversions.
Forest and Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said the report showed that farmers were well behind their own targets on the fencing of wetlands.
There was no doubt the dairy industry had set and met certain targets, and been upfront about those it hadn’t achieved.
But he questioned whether those targets were the right ones and whether all the work and expense would actually make a difference to nutrient pollution.
Most pollution entered the smaller waterways and there was no progress in lowering nitrogen leaching, he said.
