Responding to news that state-owned company Landcorp, the country’s biggest dairy farmer, is set to ditch industrial dairy plans in Waikato, Genevieve Toop, Greenpeace’s agriculture campaigner, said:
“If you like swimming in clean rivers, and want New Zealand to have an international reputation as a clean, green country, this is great news.
“Landcorp are absolutely right. These plans would have resulted in huge amounts of pollution from the dairy industry damaging our rivers and lakes.
“It’s especially significant that the government’s own dairy farmer is conceding that an expanding dairy industry is not consistent with clean rivers.
“We simply cannot continue to have an industrial dairy industry like we currently do, and also expect to have clean water.
“And that’s why we need to change the way the agricultural industry works. It’s about time we saw more of these polluting plans, including irrigation schemes like Central Plains Water in Canterbury, being ditched.”
ENDS