See the live feed here<\/a>
\nProtestors have locked themselves onto diggers and other machinery, disrupting construction on a huge irrigation pipeline for the new dairy farm.<\/p>\nThe Greenpeace protest began before sun up near Aoraki, Mount Cook.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message is clear,\u201d says Greenpeace Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner Gen Toop. \u201cFor the sake of the Mackenzie and our rivers, industrial dairy expansion has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Businessman and developer Murray Valentine has permission to create a dairy farm on the southern shores of Lake P\u016bkaki with up to 15,000 cows under giant pivot irrigators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dairy industry has polluted our rivers and our climate for too long. This latest incursion into the iconic Mackenzie Country shows just how extreme this industry has become.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed farm is a crucial habitat for the native kak\u012b \/ black stilt, the world\u2019s rarest wading bird with only 100 left in existence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mackenzie is a fragile wilderness, home to critically endangered native species, world renowned landscapes and bright blue glacial lakes. It\u2019s simply not suitable for dairy farming.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mackenzie is a naturally dry and arid region. It\u2019s soils are characterised as well-drained, or \u201cleaky\u201d, which means agricultural pollution easily leaches into waterways.<\/p>\n
The proposed new dairy farm has almost all the consents and permissions it needs to go ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new mega farm is a shameful example of how the rules to protect our rivers and our environment from industrial dairying are failing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMurray Valentine\u2019s operation is expected to leach tens of thousands of kilograms of nitrate pollution into the Mackenzie\u2019s vulnerable lakes and rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government is re-writing the regulations around freshwater and agricultural pollution. That\u2019s due to be released later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Big Dairy can put a massive farm in the Mackenzie, they can put one anywhere in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019The Government can protect the Mackenzie and our rivers by banning new dairy conversions,\u201d says Toop.<\/p>\n
Nearly 30,000 people have signed the new Greenpeace petition to ban new dairy conversions across New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace believes the way forward for farming is through \u2018Regenerative Farming\u2019 \u2013 working with the environment rather than against it.<\/p>\n
“To take the strain off our rivers and our climate we need to have fewer cows and producing higher value dairy products.”<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
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