Sustainable Dairy

Every year in South America the North Winds sweep through the continent bringing about the change of seasons. Like the full moon, the winds bring with them an eerie dryness that permeates clothes, moods and behaviours.

Like South America, New Zealand shares a heavy dependence on a strong agricultural sector. I was recently lucky enough to spend an hour with a very switched on farmer from the Waikato sharing a bank with the mighty Waikato river. This is what we talked about.

Soil management in New Zealand is a very topical issue, particularly for dairy farmers who are accused of being responsible for the pollution of our rivers and waterways. However a big problem that dairy faces is embedded values and attitudes over generations on nutrient application techniques (NZ's "green" revolution coincided with Think Big programs and extensive subsidisation during recession). With relatively cheap fertiliser available from mines across the Pacific the mentality has been more is best. But a new generation of farmers are becoming much wiser to systems thinking when managing plant growth conditions.

The balance of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium (NPK) over simplifies a highly complex system of soil quality, health and pest management. Even with high investment in understanding the science milk quality issues can still arise. Taking a sustainable approach to dairy farming in New Zealand will require a deeper understaning of the life cycle of milk. Instead of focussing on fertiliser input backcasting for sustainability should guide industry and society. The Natural Step uses a 4 step approach known as ABCD (see www.naturalstep.org.nz).

A - Awareness of what sustainability looks like. This is a collaborative approach towards achieving a shared vision for the future. Instead of pork barrelling and horse trading, a focus on understanding the system and the constraints on sustainability. This process could describe a closed loop farming system where flactulence and effluent emmissions are recycled and product is developed without environmental degradation.

B - Backcasting, i.e. what do we need to start doing now and in the future to achieve the vision? What are we taking from the environment, what are we making and what byproducts are we depositing in the environment, what environmental degradation is occuring as part of the process and what effects does this have on society (e.g. is the river clean enough for recreational use?)

C - Creative Solutions - What the system itself (farmers included) must discover. The research of Crown institutes, universities and industry must suppor this - where possible lead without overly focusing on the economy.

D - Decide on priorities - translate the above into action and monitoring.

With the first days of Spring September now is a critical time to be making decisions about our environment. Whether you are thinking about planting vegetables, pruniong trees or making an investment in capital.