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The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord: Snapshot of Progress 2007/08

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Exec Summary

• Continued progress was made towards the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord's (the Accord) targets over 2007/08. Fifty-six percent of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited's (Fonterra) suppliers (excluding those in Taranaki¹) have waterways that meet the Accord definition. Cattle are excluded from the waterways on 78 percent of these farms². Just over 2 percent of Accord-type crossings remain unbridged or unculverted.
• The level of full compliance with regional council dairy effluent rules and conditions varies widely between regions. Overall, the level of full compliance was 70 percent, slightly higher than the previous season (68 percent). The overall level of significant non-compliance recorded in 2007/08 was 11 percent, slightly lower than 2006/07's result of 12 percent. The current level of non-compliance is unacceptable and in light of this Fonterra has recently introduced new measures to assist poorly performing farmers. Regional councils will ensure their compliance and enforcement regimes are rigorous and effective in improving the current levels of full compliance.
• The Accord's fourth target is: all dairy farms to have in place systems to manage nutrient inputs and outputs by 2007. Nearly 99 percent of Fonterra suppliers now have a nutrient budget, which is an important first step towards comprehensive nutrient management. However, having a nutrient budget does not necessarily mean nutrient inputs and outputs are being actively managed.
• A stocktake of the environmental initiatives relevant to dairy farming was undertaken in 2008. The Accord is the highest profile of the many environmental initiatives relevant to dairying. However, it is only a small part of the initiatives that the industry and regulators are taking to manage dairy farming's environmental effects.
• For the 2008/09 season, Fonterra will continue to work with the fertiliser industry, DairyNZ and Accord Partners to:
  • increase the percentage of waterways with total stock exclusion
  • accelerate the uptake and implementation of full nutrient management plans
  • achieve higher levels of effluent management compliance with regional plan and resource consent requirements.
• Fonterra and DairyNZ will continue to work to fulfill their commitments under the Dairy Industry Strategy for Sustainable Environmental Management, and in the Primary Sector Water Partnership.

¹Taranaki suppliers were excluded because information relating to waterways is provided directly by the Taranaki Regional Council through its farm planning programme. This programme differs to the Accord as it imposes riparian fencing and planting requirements on those farmers with riparian plans and covers a wider range of waterways.

²used compared with previous years (e.g. no longer including farmers with no Accord-type waterways when calculating progress against the first Accord target: dairy cattle to be excluded from 50 percent of streams, rivers, and lakes by 2007, rising to 90 percent by 2012), and weighted averages now being used to calculate national progress (based on farm numbers in each region), rather than standard non-weighted averages.

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