Fonterra is working to ensure better effluent management, writes Andrew Ferrier.
Two weeks ago, Environment Waikato (EW) publicly welcomed moves by Fonterra to check every farm's dairy effluent system every year to help lift compliance with effluent management rules.
"The co-op deserves credit for taking this step," said its media release, adding it was "encouraging that Fonterra and EW are working closely together on solutions to non-compliance".
Now in a commentary in the Herald, Ian Balme, chairman of EW's regulatory committee, is accusing Fonterra of a lack of environmental leadership and failing to shoulder responsibility for non-complying farmers.
It is election year in local body politics, which no doubt explains an elected councillor's views at odds with EW's views. Given the contradictions, it's important to set the record straight.
We agree with Mr Balme on two points.
First, rising rates of non-compliance with effluent rules are completely unacceptable. In the Waikato, significant non-compliance, as measured through the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord, now stands at 20 per cent.
That is something Fonterra takes very seriously and we have been working very constructively with EW to lift performance.
We also agree that the 85 per cent of Fonterra dairy farmers nationally who take effluent management and compliance seriously are frustrated by the minority, some of whom flout the rules.
They, with the wider community, want to see action taken. Fonterra is stepping up to take that action.
Beyond those two points, however, our views differ markedly.
For the record, performance is improving in the Waikato. EW's own figures show serious rule breaches dropped last season, with five prosecutions by EW as a result of monitoring in 2008-09 compared to seven prosecutions in 2007-08.
EW has acknowledged publicly that serious offending is dropping and when farmers are being told to sort things out, they are getting on with it more promptly.
EW can take some of the credit, but not all.
Our sustainability team and area managers are proactively educating Waikato farmers on the correct effluent systems, how they should be managed and what farmers' responsibilities are under EW's rules. We work in tandem with DairyNZ and with EW to get good information out there.
This is hardly a PR-driven "look good programme". In fact, we are doubling the specialist team that supports farmers across the country to farm sustainably.
In the Waikato, this commitment is crucial. EW monitors only 15 per cent of farms.
Yet consistent monitoring sends an unequivocal message to farmers that councils, who after all are responsible for enforcement, take breaches seriously and will act on them. Everyone knows where they stand.
In the Waikato, however, 85 per cent of dairy farms remain unmonitored for significant periods of time, reducing the referrals we receive when farms are seen to be at risk of non-compliance.
"Every farm, every year" will help address that, preventing problems before they arise.
As chairman of EW's regulatory committee, Mr Balme understands where enforcement responsibilities lie and that is with the council.
Yet he suggests Fonterra is not shouldering those responsibilities at a cost to ratepayers - presumably including farmer ratepayers.
How can we, when these responsibilities are not ours but his council's?
Our responsibility is to advise and educate farmers so they do not fall foul of the rules. When they do, and are prosecuted as they should be, we step in to ensure that the problems which led to prosecution are promptly fixed.
If they are not, financial sanctions of up to $3000 apply and the ultimate sanction is non-collection of milk, something we applied twice last season.
But let's be clear, this is remedial action after the event of prosecution. We recognise more needs to be done to prevent non-compliance in the first place. Hence our initiative to check every dairy farm every year and our goal to halve non compliance in 18 months trending to zero.
Fonterra does not promote production ahead of sustainability. The dairy industry strategy, driven by Dairy NZ with our support, instead concentrates on profitability, sustainability and competitiveness.
Our sustainability strategy is both broad and deep in our business and on-farm.
In areas such as nutrient budgets, now held by 99 per cent of farmers, stock exclusion from waters, research into nitrification inhibitors and responsible resource use, we have a clear leadership position, supported by targets tracked annually.
Our strategy recognises that our continued success and the large economic contribution dairy makes to New Zealand depend on the confidence that the community and our international customers have in our commitment to sustainability.
While the vast majority of our farmers can take pride in their environmental stewardship, we and they recognise that the remainder need to lift their game.
In our experience, partnerships and education are far more effective than politicking and penalties in getting behaviour changed.
Through our "every farm, every year" initiative, we are partnering with our suppliers, regional councils and DairyNZ and Federated Farmers to tackle non-compliance head on. We have EW's support. We look to Mr Balme for the same commitment.
* Andrew Ferrier is Fonterra's chief executive.
