New dairy accord nears launch

 DCANZ executive director Simon Tucker says the new accord will focus on riparian, nutrient and effluent management, water use management and dairy 'conversations'. He believes while the clean streams accord had its critics, overall it was successful for the industry.

"With that expiring this year, we thought we should be doing something new. We talked to a lot of farmers, Federated Farmers, the dairy companies, industry stakeholders, central government, regional councils, iwi groups and environmental NGOs to get their feedback. The consensus came back that having a successor to the clean streams accord was a good idea."

The final detail of the new accord is still being hammered out, but it will have a distinctive Land and Water Forum, (LAWF) look about it.
Tucker was a member of LAWF and says at a fundamental level one of the key messages from LAWF was that the best way to address water quality and quantity concerns was to do it collaboratively. This requires the industry to work with the regulators and other stakeholders.

"The LAWF report identifies the need for 'industry good management practices' as a key to improving water quality. This new accord is all about industry self improvement and the adoption of good management practice.

"We had conversations around the LAWF table about where the dairy industry was going with a new accord and received a lot of positive feedback about it."