Dann calls out the Greens for apparently not lauding the contribution of dairy to New Zealand's export earnings - nearing 25 per cent, he writes.
As a Green, I can absolutely state many of us have a vested interest in a successful dairy industry in New Zealand. One of my BFFs (best friends forever) has worked for Fonterra for years, my in-laws are Waikato dairy farmers, my husband is trained in constructing dairy effluent systems and, most importantly, my boys and I love ice-cream. Yep, the Greens are not an ice-cream-free zone by any stretch.
What is important to focus on is what makes a dairy industry successful. For me, it has to be more than an economic bottom line - it's about a healthy environment. (There's probably a separate column on conditions and treatment of farm animals - including the human kind!)
I'm no economist but seems to me we are vulnerable with this incredible dependence on the dairy sector. While I have considerable misgivings about continued conversion of farms to dairy because of the environmental impacts, it also increases the vulnerability we face if our dairy exports go "tits up"! And unfortunately there hasn't been a shortage of scandals and near misses in the past year - seems we're scraping through by the skin of our teeth.
There are leaders in the dairying community who are making a good living for themselves and their families without costing the earth. A long time ago they answered the question of whether to fence off and plant up the stream edges on their farms. Many farmers have covenanted areas of bush and wetland on their properties, supporting the work of the QEII Trust and others - check out www.openspace.org.nz for profiles, including those of dairy farmers.
To be crystal clear - dairying is not the only contributing factor to our declining water standards. But dairying is a significant part and contributing 25 per cent of our export earnings does not provide a free pass.
As the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment stated in her 2013 report into water quality, there are many urban and rural contributions to the state of our water and those farmers taking action deserve praise. But the impacts are complex and further expansion without effective solutions is environmental madness plus it creates very real economic risk through damaged reputation eroding our markets. While fencing and planting are vital, the answers are not that simple.
Fish and Game recently commissioned a public survey on people's attitudes to dairying and water quality, finding that 70 per cent of Kiwis - and 65 per cent of farm managers and owners - believe the expansion of dairying has worsened water quality.
While we continue to put weight on economic performance above all others, we are doomed to failure. Water is a finite resource - our most precious commodity, yet we appear to put the dollar ahead of it.
I'm not sure if Jed Clampett would say more than "we-e-e-ell doggies" so I'll lean on Terry Swearingen's quote instead: "We are living on the planet as if we have another one to go to."
