Industrial dairying is failing. It’s failing people who want to swim in clean rivers, its failing our tourism industry, it’s failing our climate, and it’s failing farmers. The good news is that there are alternative ways to produce...

Cutting back on red meat and dairy  can be one of the biggest steps to reduce your carbon footprint. While Greenpeace campaign for renewable energy and a transition from fossil fuels, we're also looking at other ways we can protect...

There’s no question about it -  drought is causing serious problems for our farmers and communities. So what do we do about it? Dams and irrigation are often touted as the best way to deal with increasing dry spells,...

In the last two weeks, one third of people in Havelock North have fallen ill with a gastro illness that originated in the town’s water supply. The source? Most likely contamination from cows, sheep or deer. By all accounts the...

Early this morning, we travelled to the proposed site of the Ruataniwha irrigation dam in Hawke’s Bay. With a small crane we uplifted the construction site office, put it on the back of a truck and drove it 100kms to Napier.  There we...

The Department of Conservation describes itself as “the Government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural heritage”. Which is why New Zealanders are scratching their heads over the department’s decision to fight a...

It seems the critical issue of clean swimmable water for New Zealanders has passed into the realms of magical realism. Minister for Magic, Nick Smith waved his blue wand and wadeable rivers miraculously turned into ones you can swim...

How Greenpeace is using satire to call out NZ Dairy Bosses on their outrageous billboard. You can't miss it. Even at night. The Fonterra billboard bores down through your windscreen with sunny insistence. It strikes you the moment...

Frogs will rain from the sky, a blight will cross the land, and white walkers will travel south of the wall. All this will come to pass. Oh and cabbages might cost more. That’s the tenor of the response of Irrigation New Zealand...

I'm inside a pipe on the Canterbury Plains with Olga from Greenpeace. We each have an arm secured into a tube inside a two and a half metre irrigation pipe. We're in a ditch between the Rakaia and Waimakariri Rivers. Our pipe is one of...

The day started early, or late, depending on your perspective. We met the night before in Christchurch. People had travelled from across New Zealand at a moment’s notice - one group had even driven from Dunedin. The energy was high.

Construction has started on huge irrigation schemes in Canterbury. When they start working, it’s going to be disastrous for our rivers - most of which are already struggling. More irrigation means more cows and that means more...

What had been brewing for weeks following various hints and tips was finally confirmed last week when Monsanto announced it would cease the marketing of new genetically engineered seeds (GE) in the European Union. The world's...

The current food system is broken. We all see how industrial and chemical intensive food production impacts on people and farmers, the planet and animals. For example, did you know that in 2007, 269 tonnes of pesticides were used...

Answer? A fresh water crisis. Gone are the days of Aussies telling Kiwi sheep jokes. In the past 20 years, sheep,  pine trees and shrub have made way for more and more cows,  mostly for intensive dairying.   At the same time our...

As ecological farming and the market for organic food continues to grow across the globe, I’m heartened to see that the same is true in Spain, my home country, where we are going through one of the worst economic crises in recent...

Industrial dairying is failing. It’s failing people who want to swim in clean rivers, its failing our tourism industry, it’s failing our climate, and it’s failing farmers. The high input industrial dairying model requires more...

People in Europe have massively rejected GMOs, and our governments have started to ban their cultivation , but agro­chemical companies have cooked up a new way to get GMOs onto the European market. They are claiming that GMOs which...

It’s pretty obvious that letting cows wander into waterways, collapsing stream banks and defecating in the water is not good for our rivers. But the most serious freshwater health issue facing NZ’s waterways still involves cows but...

Dodgy Ruataniwha Dam will destroy rivers and indebt farmers The Ruataniwha dam is one of the largest irrigation schemes planned in New Zealand.  If it goes ahead it will create more industrial dairy farms and pollute the rivers in...

In the last two weeks, roughly 4500 adults and children have been struck down with a waterborne gastro illness found in Havelock North’s water supply. That’s a third of the town’s entire population. Most likely source? Ruminant...

It’s been a tough few weeks for think-big irrigation and industrial agriculture. As a bit of background for those not familiar with plans for even more industrial dairying around New Zealand - the Government is throwing over ...

The proposed Ruataniwha Dam is the poster child of Big Irrigation.   It stands as a symbol of the Government's agenda to prop up industrial dairying despite the fact that it’s poisoning our waterways and indebting farmers. ...

Today (21 September), around the globe, we mark Peace Day knowing that for many, peace is nowhere to be found. Not today. And unless things change dramatically, not any time soon. 2015 saw the number of refugees and displaced people...

“ It can be argued that voters in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council elections voted emphatically against the proposed Ruataniwha Dam .” So read the editorial in Sunday’s Hawke’s Bay Today. A 5-4 pro-dam majority on the old...

“Ojos hacen fe.” Those are the words of Lucy Martín, an inspiring Cuban researcher with Oxfam in Havana. She has lived through decades of change in Cuba, while remaining grounded in the reality of farmers there. She uses...

At this point most people know about neonicotinoids and the serious risk they pose to honey bees. Bees are a link in a chain of biodiversity and pollination of incredible value to our food production. Up to 75% of our crops directly...

Funny how, over time, crazy weird becomes the new normal. There were certainly some nutty ideas floating around when I was a young fella studying Agricultural Economics at Lincoln University last millennium. Outlandish thoughts like...

It’s often said that domestic opinion doesn’t count for much in this country. Watch though, as heads turn and lattes spill when that same opinion comes from across the water. It’s our endearing lack of self confidence and charming...

In the winter of 2017, I received a call from a colleague about a small community in the Hungarian countryside, far from the busy streets of Budapest, that needed help. A Lutheran organisation had just launched a project with disabled...

You've got to feel sorry for the dairy leadership. Well you do. They're in mourning. Grief is the only way to explain the strange and conflicting messages coming out of DairyNZ and the Federated Farmers over the last six months. Could...

When farming organisations start using children as human shields you know they’ve reached a new level of desperation. I think we might have arrived at despo-con3.   Achieved when DairyNZ decided to employ school kids as a new line of...

“OMG - Dairy Bosses discover climate change - 20 years too late” Hot on the heels of Greenpeace’s parody video about Pure Dairy, the industry leadership has countered with a parody of its own. The Dairy Action plan 2017-2018, ...

The first message I sent home from New Zealand was about tap water. Sounds weird. True story. Having spent the previous five years drinking London water (you know, the kind of hard water that means endless scrubbing to get crusty...

We had to go for it. At the crack of dawn today, a team of our activists began an occupation of the Central Plains Water (CPW) irrigation dam. If you want to join us - we’re on Coxs Road, Springfield. Time is of the essence, and...

If you’ve got loads of burning questions and want to know more then come along to the briefing on Wednesday, September 13th at Halo, 66B Wharenui Road.  Make sure you’re registered to get updates. How long do I have to stay?