No handbrake on dairy
The Government will not stifle the growth of the dairy industry to limit its impact on the environment, says Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is running a consultation process on setting new N leaching limits in the Rotorua Lakes catchment and farmers including McKenzie are not happy.
“The regional council is still wedded to the notion that they’re going to fix Lake Rotorua by significantly reducing the amount of nitrogen that enters it. But the science is telling us the lake is now phosphate-limited – a lack of phosphate in the lake is [inhibiting algae growth].”
McKenzie says the council wants to restrict dairy farms to a loss of 35kgN/ha/yr and drystock farms to 13kgN/ha/yr. He says such restrictions will lead to destocking on all properties including lifestyle blocks and uneaten grass will introduce a risk of fire in summer.
He says the catchment is a complicated one with vastly different soil types and variances in the amount of rain that falls, all of which affect N leaching.
“The council staff detest me because I go to public meetings and when they’re economical with the truth I stand up and challenge them. At the last meeting when I challenged some of their ‘facts’ they backed down. But they continue to perpetrate myths to support their beliefs and wishes for what should happen in the catchment – not what is going to achieve the values and desires of our community.”
McKenzie says councils too often focus on environmental issues and not on the other three pillars of the RMA – social, cultural and economic. People need jobs and farming provides these, McKenzie says.
“Rotorua is in a state of decline. There are 100 empty shops in the middle of town and that’s a sign of a dying community. The regional council with its proposals on nitrogen are determined to shut down agriculture – not just dairying.
“I’m not going to stand around and let some bureaucrat in the regional council destroy my community.”
