Farmers are already managing their nitrogen, phosphorous, E coli and sediment levels to monitor and improve water quality.
In my role as a climate change ambassador for the dairy sector the message I am giving farmers is that we need to view our methane and nitrous oxide emissions as the fifth contaminant we need to manage for the betterment of our country.
I’ve found this works, rather than treating climate change as an additional issue.
To get a better understanding of the challenge this presents for dairy farmers my wife Sharon and I took the opportunity to offer one of our farms to DairyNZ to use as a benchmark for the partnership farm project.
The project is part of the Dairy Action for Climate Change, a commitment by the sector to lead change and reduce the sector’s emissions.
A series of case studies is being done on farms like ours to find out which greenhouse gas mitigations work best on different farm systems to reduce emissions.
Taking part in the project was a gamble for us because we didn’t know at the start whether our farm’s greenhouse gas footprint is good, bad or neutral.
We see the challenge of being in the partnership farm project as both scary and exciting at the same time.
Scary because we do not yet know the impact our mitigations will have on our business and exciting because it is good to be part of a nationwide movement that is addressing a global challenge.
I believe all New Zealanders have a role to play in mitigating climate change.
To not do something equates to pointing a gun at humanity’s head and pulling the trigger, whether it is loaded or not.
By putting the information gathered from our farm into the public sphere others will be able to learn from us.
And, regardless of how emissions-efficient our farm turns out to be, we will still be looking to other farmers and other farm case studies to help our farm do better.
I believe the next generation sees climate change mitigation as less of a challenge and more of an opportunity.
Once NZ figures out how to lower our greenhouse gas emissions at the same time as we remain an agricultural nation we will see the value of our sector soar worldwide.
The world’s growing population will always have a need for dairy and animal proteins and sustainability will be our point of difference.
By embracing this change, and recognising the opportunity we can optimise the NZ Inc reputation.
But this isn’t just on farmers.
Transport has had a 78% rise in carbon dioxide emissions since 1995 so all New Zealanders need to think about their environmental footprint.
Collectively every little bit of change will help.
