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seen walking the talk when it comes to caring for the environment. “You’ve got to be seen to be doing the right things yourself,” he said, pointing out that other farmers are more likely to listen and act on your advice if you follow that same advice yourself. He was particularly pleased that the Pendarves farm he owns a share of in recently received an A grade for its first farm audit. However, Mason did not want to unfairly claim the credit for the hard work done by farm manager Michael Boston. “It was a really good effort by Michael. There was a lot of record keeping involved.” He said being part of an irrigation scheme was a big advantage when undergoing a farm audit, due to the support the schemes provided. Earlier this month Mason attended the annual farmer-led Dairy Environment Leaders’ Forum in Wellington. Held every year since 2007, the forum is an opportunity for dairy environment leaders to get together, evaluate their progress and set goals for regional and national initiatives.
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Those who attend the forum work on individual, regional and national action plans; attend skills sessions and workshops and build on existing leadership skills; celebrate individual and industry successes; and share their knowledge and experience, learning from each other. The leaders’ diverse backgrounds means a considerable amount of farming and industry knowledge is brought to the forum. Within Canterbury there is also a group called DairyCan, which Mason said was a way of bringing ideas discussed on a national level, such as those at the forum, to reality at a more regional level. He said most farmers today understand the need to protect the environment, however, water is not the only issue they needed to consider if they were to get ahead of the game. “Water quality is today’s issue. How we deal with greenhouse gases is coming, but we’ve got to start thinking about it now. It is the next thing. “We need to start getting the research done now.”
Dairying not all about milking it Seeing themselves as “guardians of their land” and adopting environmentally friendly ways of farming is a key component of the farmers’ personal convictions. A new study, “What really drives dairy production systems: economic rationale or social and environmental responsibility?” surveyed owners, sharemilkers and managers, to format a questionnaire for much larger sample of interviews with farmers, due to take place in January. Co-author, Lincoln professor of farm management Alison Bailey, said all the study subjects recognised social and environmental responsibilities as key areas that have to be integrated into their objectives and decision making. However, profitability and financial performance remains the basis of their system and their first objective. “In the context of changing internal and external pressures on agriculture it is important to determine whether the dimensions of sustainability – economic, social, environmental – can be integrated
Left – Lincoln professor Alison Bailey is examining what really drives dairy production systems, economic rationale or environmental responsibility. PHOTO SUPPLIED
successfully at the farm level. “Having this knowledge is critical if we are to more fully understand the social and environmental consequences of changes in agricultural management,” professor Bailey said. One of the farmers’ objectives was to leave the land in a better shape than when they took it on themselves so that the next generation could also benefit from it as a productive
resource, she said. It was generally agreed amongst all respondents that, in the long term, equal importance should be given to all three areas, financial, social and environmental. Most of them also mentioned sustainability concerns as one of their main objectives, they want a system that is productive in the long term, resilient and environmentally friendly.
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