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The Government will not stifle the growth of the dairy industry to limit its impact on the environment, says Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
He says stopping the industry growing would be the easy solution but the Government is not keen on going down that path.
"As the political wind changes, you might end up with easy solutions," he told DairyNZ's Farmers Forum in Hamilton.
"We are picking the hard road."
Overall there will be environmental constraints and in some places they will bite but not everywhere.
English believes that there are significant enough changes in farming practices allowing farmers to be profitable and more productive with lower nitrates.
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