While some environmentalists point fingers at farmers as the sole reason for why water ‘isn’t what it used to be,’ I have never seen farmers treating water more seriously and with more respect than they do today.
As 2012 draws to a close there is no such thing as the ‘good old days’ when it comes to water use in town or country.
As the President of Federated Farmers, this got me thinking about the two things I would dearly want for Christmas and the New Year.
One is an end to the ‘farmer v. environmentalist’ stoush and the second is a trade liberalising Trans Pacific Partnership. . .
Dairy effluent to fish food project scaled up:
A Bay of Plenty regional council project which involves converting dairy effluent into fish food is being scaled up to farm trials.
The project is one of a number to receive a share of the council’s $30,000 Bright Idea Fund which is available for staff ideas that fall outside the normal scope of council work.
Rivers and Drainage manager Bruce Crabbe says batch trials show whitebait have successfully been raised on dairy effluent converted into a protein rich plankton.
Forestry workers urged to stay safe this summer
With a number of recent deaths in the forestry sector, workers, contractors and forest owners are being urged to make safety a priority this summer season.
The forestry sector has the highest rate of fatal work-related injuries in New Zealand and the rate of ACC claims for the forestry sector is almost six times the rate for all sectors.
“This is unacceptable – we need to do better when it comes to keeping our forestry workers safe,” says the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s General Manager of Health and Safety Operations, Ona de Rooy. . .
“While some environmentalists point fingers at farmers as the sole reason for why water ‘isn’t what it used to be…”
That’s bullshit from Bruce. They don’t. It’s foolish to build an argument on falsity. Bruce should know better.
The operative word is some, Robert, not all and probably not even a majority.
Can you quote from even one?
Heres a swag in just one article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5367370/Dirty-rivers-will-only-get-worse
JC
Not one shred of evidence to support the claim, JC.
Disappointing, but not surprising.
http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/alexandra/240341/river-warning-wanted. Not all the reasons given are to do with farming, but three out of five of them are, ie. farming, practices, dead stock, and flood irrigation. It doesn’t point the finger solely at farmers but that message is present.
sorry extra “,” after “farming” and before “practices”.
“With a number of recent deaths in the forestry sector, workers, contractors and forest owners are being urged to make safety a priority this summer season”. And this message should not just be directed towards the forestry industry.
It’s a shame that businesses are being forced to take extreme measures to protect the environment when so many people still die on the job in New Zealand. There is a finite amount of time, attention, money and resources available and in small businesses the squeeze is ever more noticeable. Sometimes there is even direct conflict between environmental vs health & safety compliance.