by frog
A record fine has been handed down by the Environment Court in Napier for the breach of a resource consent. What is so heartbreaking is that the fine goes to the Dairy Manager of the Year, someone who is being celebrated within the dairy industry for ‘success’. Clearly success in this context means maximum profits and production regardless the law.
Taharua Farm has been fined $37,500 after Hawke’s Bay Regional Council laid charges for the discharge of dairy effluent that was well over the resource consent conditions.
This is the largest fine in New Zealand for a single dairy effluent charge.
The basis of the Taharua Farm consent was that 3000 cows were being milked. However as cows increased above that number, to around 4500 cows, the effluent volume increased accordingly. There was no request from the farm company to change the conditions of that consent.
During routine compliance checks in April and November by a Regional Council compliance office, the farm manager gave incorrect information on the number of cows on the property.
Taharua farm manager Frank (Sam) Webb and his wife were winners of the Central Plateau farm manager of the year title in April 2007.
The Environment Court Judge Thompson recognised that if this was not a deliberate action, it was grossly negligent. Judge Thompson acknowledged that the Taharua and Mohaka rivers are sensitive receiving environments. The rivers also have significant cultural, commercial and recreational values, and discharges over and above the nitrogen loadings lead to insidious and cumulative effects over time.
Breaking your consent limits by 50% is no laughing matter. It’s no accident either. Fonterra is pressing dairy farmers to expand dairy production by 4% per year, compounding. The only way to maintain this level of growth is to over stock, and thus break the law. So who should we shoot? The messenger or the message? In this case the messenger was shot, but I dare say the fine is peanuts compared to the economic gain in breaking the law. So the only loser thus far is the environment. The real problem is the growth-at-all-costs paradigm. Amazingly, we heard this from a government Minister:
Mr Mallard had said that they would be looking at the science around dairying and what is clear is that the rate of intensification, unchecked, will just not be able to continue. Mr Mallard said that in some areas, dairy expansion might not be able to continue.
Mallard’s statement is a glimmer of common sense in a sea of ignorance about the obvious limits to growth. Let’s hope it takes root. I have my doubts. We don’t need to stop dairying. We do need to stop it completely and stop it expanding where it leads to a fouling of our rivers and our drinking water.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Sat, August 2nd, 2008
Tags: conviction, dairy, effluent, farm, fine, hawkes bay, taharua
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Lets do some math. 1500 cows over the consent at 300 MS per cow, $5 dollar profit per MS (those numbers are on the conservative side for a large scale farm) = 2.25 million dollars vs a fine of $37,500
Bit of a joke really
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I do believe that environmentalists need to be very clear in presenting that message to the dairy industry, i.e. this is not an attack on dairy farming as a business and a way of life BUT it is a call to farm in a sustainable manner with a clear commitment to the “clean waters” and lower nitrates.
Being connected to the dairy farming work as I am I know that there are farmers and farm workers who feel they are being victimised by the Greens.
Thus the need for clarity of message.
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How about the Greens establishing a “Sustainable Dairy Manager of the Year” competition?
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kaimatacroft – That’s not a bad suggestion. I know Russel is reading this, but I’ll give him a reminder during the week. It is difficult bashing the abusers without looking like you are attacking everyone wholesale.
In our media soaked world, only the coarsest, black and white stories/images seem to get through. It’s too bad really. The world is mostly grey – not perfectly good, not perfectly evil. We just like stories where the distinction is drawn clearly for us, so we don’t have to think so much. Like Michael Law’s Op/Ed in the SST today, which I am about to do a post on…
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I think there is something like that, somewhere kaimatacroft. As to where I read about it in the first place…might’ve been on frogblog, hmm.
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Probably the farm environment awards you are thinking about.
http://www.nzfeatrust.org.nz/content/1/default.aspx
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Another example of the headlong rush to oblivion. The current system IS headed there because, listen for it, it is not sustainable!
How long that may take is unknowable, however, it is teetering on the brink and requires only a few small nudges for it to topple.
Of course there will be massive fallout and many will be hurt. We humans apparently, looking at history, require a fairly large nudge from factors beyond our perceived control to do this. Any number of factors may agglomerate to be those nudging elements. I wait with almost bated breath.
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ta shorty, looks familiar but couldn’t be sure.
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bigblukiwi
I look forward to your excellent posts, and this one “hits the nail on the head” (once again).
Having listened to John Keys’ post National Party Conference interview with Kathryn Ryan on National Radio (Monday 4th), I NEEDED to be reminded that some of us are aware that we humans have “problems that cannot be ignored”. (NOT the same “problems” that John Keys et al are planning to solve I fear.)
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eredwen -nice to know someone reads and appreciates them !
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