In a first for the country, farming leaders have pledged to work together to help make New Zealand’s rivers swimmable for future generations.
The Farming Leaders’ Pledge has been signed today by a group of New Zealand pastoral farming leaders, that represent over 80% per cent of that country’s farmed land, committing them to an ambitious goal of working to make New Zealand’s rivers swimmable for their children and grandchildren.
Group spokesperson, Federated Farmers President and West Coast dairy farmer Katie Milne says the intent behind the pledge is clear.
“Many of our rivers are not in the condition we all want them to be. We are doing this because we want our kids and their kids to be able to swim in the same rivers that we did as children. And by swim we mean swim. It’s as simple as that.
Farming Leaders Pledge Action On Rivers.
“We’re standing up and saying we haven’t always got this right. More work is required and we will play our part. While there has been progress on farm in the past 10 years, we know there is more to be done, and that it must be done fast, and together.
“Today isn’t about laying out the detail on the huge amount of work going on already on farms up and down the country and how these efforts will need to increase.
“It’s about us as farming leaders signalling our commitment to making New Zealand’s rivers swimmable and doing everything we can to achieve that.”
Ms Milne, says the group understands much of the work needed will be challenging for the farming sector.
“We haven’t put a timeline on our commitment. Each community will need to decide that for themselves. This goal will be difficult to meet and we don’t have all the answers today on how it’s going to be achieved”, she says.
“We know that we have work to do. We know it will be challenging for farmers. We know the answers are complex and we don’t have them all now. This commitment is simply the right thing to do in playing our part to give back to future generations what we enjoyed as kids.”
The Farming Leaders Group is an informal grouping of New Zealand pastoral farming leaders that was established in May 2017 to work on issues of importance to the sector.
The current membership is Mike Petersen (Sheep & Beef Farmer), Michael Spaans (Dairy Farmer and Dairy NZ Chair), James Parsons (Sheep & Beef Farmer and Beef + Lamb NZ Chair), John Loughlin (Meat Industry Association Chair), Katie Milne (Dairy Farmer and Federated Farmers President), Bruce Wills (Sheep & Beef Farmer and Ravensdown Director), and John Wilson (Dairy Farmer and Fonterra Chair).