We are going to stay in the limelight and continue being criticised until we get our industry ahead of the game.
We all know that there are lots of groups and individuals who will keep targeting our industry, which is clearly visible for all to see.
The Government has no choice but to continue imposing rules and regulations to satisfy the social pressure we see on the internet and social media, fuelled by the global warming debate.
The choice is ours – we can either sit back do nothing and wait until our industry is regulated to such an extent we cannot do anything without a consent or we can start doing something about it now.
Before I go any further I should explain I am a farmer who lives on the coast in Rangitikei.
Our farm has changed significantly over the years from a traditional breeding farm in the 1970s to a bull beef finishing farm and is now an intensive, irrigated, finishing and cropping farm with a range from fresh vegetables to forestry.
We have adopted technology, direct drilling, pivot irrigators, electric fences and much more but, most importantly, we have learnt to farm with our soils and our environment.
I’m also a member of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand environmental reference group that meets on behalf of farmers as we negotiate a path forward in these challenging times.
Our farms are all different and no one knows a farm better than its owner. We know our soils, topography and climate. We know which soils are fertile and which aren’t. We know intricate detail about each paddock and how it performs.
So, what do we all have to do?
It’s very simple from my point of view but some of the issues we all face will be extremely challenging for some farmers because of soil type, topography, climate and farming system.
Some have been doing the same thing for many years so the thought of change is not easy but change we must.
The days when it was acceptable for animals to stand in mud and water, being break-fed during winter without a place to sit or lie down are over.
This is not only coming from an environmental point of view but also an animal welfare point of view.
I have seen many photos sent in by people who are our customers complaining about this practice.
We, as individual farmers, need to think very carefully before we plant a winter feed crop that is detrimental to our environment or challenges our animal welfare codes.
The soil type, proximity to water bodies and the grazing management need careful consideration of whether they will be suitable during a wet winter. This is no longer an excuse for lack of planning and poor management.
Critical source areas are parts of a paddock where water carrying sediment, nutrients and pathogens polluting our waterways flows.
We farmers need to learn to identify these areas and adopt best grazing management practices when grazing our winter crops.
If every farmer in NZ did it we would reduce sediment and phosphorus going into our waterways by up to 90%. That research was done by AgResearch at Telford in 2017.
Soil loss is the next issue.
We need to adopt technology or develop prevention strategies that keep our soils on our farms.
We cannot continue to expose our soils, usually because of mechanical cultivation, making them vulnerable to erosion from rain and wind.
There are proven, modern techniques such as minimum tillage, direct drilling and heli-cropping that can all help reduce soil loss on our most vulnerable soils and landscapes.
Fencing off waterways and planting trees will also help but the examples I have used are all low-cost, easily adopted by all farmers and highly beneficial towards protecting our waterways and reducing our soil loss.
We all have farm plans, some on paper and some in our heads, but now we all need to start getting smarter.
The time is here where we all must have a land/farm environmental plan, identifying our environmental resources and any environmental risks. This plan must also be active and visible for everyone on the farm to see and follow.
Our industry bodies and regional councils are full of suitably skilled individuals ready to help, all we have to do is ask.
Community catchment groups are another very important resource.
We are far stronger as a group, supporting each other, compared to working as individuals so talk to your neighbour, form a group and help take the wind out of the sails of our critics before it’s too late and regulation and consents manage our farms in the future.
