But true success in improving water quality for swimming is decades away because issues had built up over decades and there was no quick fix, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said.
The Government would not ruin the economy in fixing water issues, he said.
And Federated Farmers dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard said “greenie groups” picking on farmers should read the report.
The independently audited report said dairy farmers were tackling environmental issues head on and had made significant progress on their commitment to protecting waterways, DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said.
It found 26,197km of waterways were now fenced.
National levels of significant non-compliance for dairy effluent systems on farms had dropped to their lowest ever, at 5.2%, down from 7% in 2013-14.
And 83% of farmers, compared to 56% in 2013-14, were now getting nitrogen information to help them farm more responsibly – with 9517 nutrient budgets processed last year.
The nitrogen management programme collected data to show onfarm nitrogen loss. That enabled farmers to make improvements to their farm systems to reduce nitrogen loss and improve efficiency of use.
More than 99% of 44,386 regular stock crossings on dairy farms now have bridges or culverts to protect water quality.
“It’s heartening to see what farmers have achieved in the past three years,” Mackle said.
“I acknowledge that there is still some work to do, but dairy farmers are making a positive difference.
“They have made great strides since the Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord was launched in 2013.
“Dairy farmers made a commitment to good management practices and the actions they have taken, both large and small, are reflected in these results. The really special thing is that they have made this commitment voluntarily and I take my hat off to them”, Mackle said.
Dairy Companies Association executive director Kimberly Crewther said that since the accord was launched in 2013, the industry had made significant progress on meeting its environmental commitments.
“The annual process of independent auditing of results gives a high degree of assurance that real progress is occurring against targets”, she said.
Guy said a range of targets had been met.
“Dairy farmers deserve credit for the leadership they have shown in recent years.
“There has been a major reduction in pollution entering our lakes and rivers from dairy sheds, factories and town effluent systems.
“From the Government side, a huge amount of work has generated new rules, standards and monitoring which simply didn’t exist 10 years ago.
“This includes new regulations to keep livestock out of waterways to reduce E. coli and improve water quality.
“Achieving our goal of 90% swimmability by 2040 will be a long-term project. It will take decades because water quality issues have built up over decades and there is no quick fix.
“There are still challenges ahead but we are going to achieve it in a practical, realistic and sustainable way that doesn’t ruin our economy at the same time.
“This is a long term issue and we’re all in it together,” Guy said.
Hoggard said “Greenie groups who seek to bolster their fundraising campaigns by using dairy farmers as their favourite target need to read the Water Accord report.”
It underlined how seriously dairy farmers took their environmental responsibilities.
"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.
The level of compliance for dairy effluent systems was at its highest ever – a shade under 95%.
"Non-compliance in some regions is now below 1%.
“When I first started in Feds only a decade and a bit ago the non-compliance rate was pushing upwards of 20% in my region (Manawatu-Wanganui).
“Getting below 1% is an outstanding effort and a considerable investment from farmers to modernise their systems, to make them weather-proof for all kinds of conditions, and often to make them human mistake-proof."
The fencing dairy farmers had put in could have fenced off the Mexico/United States border nine times over.
"These results show that the vast majority of farmers are doing their bit on their farms to improve things. We still have a few who need to do more.
"The individual farmer can control what happens on his or her property. They can’t control the entire catchment," he said.
