“I have no doubt farmers will adapt to the expectations of New Zealanders for water quality and continue to run profitability,” he told the DairyNZ Farmers Forum in Hamilton.
He was commenting on the setting of nutrient limits in catchments foreshadowed by Environment Minister David Parker, which many interpreted as a Government-enforced reduction in cow numbers.
But dairy leaders said Parker’s comments were not a new, hard line and regional councils throughout the country were consulting and deciding on where the limits will be set.
O’Connor’s approach was conciliatory and goal-setting in front of an audience of about 300 dairy farmers.
He said a lot of good work had been done by the industry and the recent Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA) report showed a bottoming-out of deteriorating water quality and improvements in some places.
His vision is for a dairy industry running the highest and best systems and not just pushing milk production.
Fonterra is the biggest and best company New Zealanders own, being the country’s only true multinational and it has to be protected.
Pressures on Fonterra will come from within (NZ) and not from without.
The pressures on the dairy industry include high debt levels, labour shortages, increasing expectations for water quality, animal welfare and agricultural emissions in climate change.
Labour governments made the hard calls in the dairy industry throughout history, including the formation of the Dairy Board, the removal of Muldoon’s unsustainable subsidies and the formation of Fonterra.
O’Connor said his new Primary Sector Council will help with decision-making and not to tell industries and farmers what to do.
It will gather the options and do the thinking on issues such as genetically modified organisms, farming intensification and the increasing public pressures on animal proteins.
Consumers can now check back along the supply chain to assure themselves that every part is acceptable so farmers have to adapt to these expectations.
