DairyNZ’s latest water plan a “gutless betrayal” – Greenpeace NZ

Shortly after Fonterra released its highly criticised freshwater plan last week, Dairy NZ has followed suit and released their “strategy” to clean up New Zealand’s rivers.

“The dairy leadership is betraying New Zealanders with their cynical PR spin.” says Greenpeace campaigner Gen Toop.

“New Zealanders have shown they are deeply concerned about the impact intensive dairy has had on our rivers. DairyNZ, Fonterra and Federated Farmers have responded with gutless plans designed to pull the wool over people’s eyes” she says.

“DairyNZ’s latest plan is full of crap, just like our rivers. It isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,”

DairyNZ’s plans states that they do not support the blanket capping of production or cow numbers as the first-best solution to clean up NZ’s rivers.

“DairyNZ and Fonterra still don’t have the guts to tackle the issue head on and commit to the only thing that will save our rivers, which is fewer cows.”

“A chorus of freshwater scientists and environmental organisations are calling for a reduction in the national dairy cow herd, but the dairy leadership still fails to admit the simple truth that New Zealand has too many cows.”

“Unfortunately, the leadership’s constant inaction and propaganda is not going to do any favours for New Zealand’s dairy farmers – who need to urgently clean up their farming systems and win back the public’s trust before their social license completely curdles in the sun.”