Farmers need to save our environment for future generations.

Rural opinion journalist Jon Morgan writes.

I'm coming to the conclusion we have too many dairy cows in parts of New Zealand.
I know, many of you in the towns reached that point years ago, but be gentle with me. It's quite a step for me, long a believer in dairy farmers' untrammeled right to produce as much milk as they like.
It seems obvious to me that we have too many cows in the most sensitive parts of the country – sandy, shingley, free-draining areas laced with streams, close to groundwater and big recreational rivers.
And I think there's no doubt that these cows are the main source of the excessive nutrients that are polluting rivers and lakes in these regions.
The simple solution is to regulate a reduction in cow numbers.
I say this because it appears the solution already tried – asking farmers nicely, and even giving them some financial help, to fence off waterways and plant riparian strips – isn't working.
However, I have to add a qualifier. Many farmers are fencing and planting and in Taranaki a regional council initiative is reaping spectacular results. It's hard to find a stream among the many flowing down from the mountain in dairy country that isn't fenced and planted.
But (another qualifier) I can find no evidence that nitrogen leaching has diminished to the point where the streams are "clean" – whatever that means. For swimming? For drinking? For native fish?
Whether it works or not, too few farmers are taking even these basic steps. In sensitive areas it is even more essential that they do so.
I don't think it is a lot to ask. I'm not talking about depopulating whole farms, just about grazing fewer cows close to waterways and on sensitive soils.
If we are serious about cleaning up the rivers and keeping safe our international image we have no choice. Reluctantly, I've come to the conclusion that regulation is needed.
Some regions have tried this and met a wall of resistance. In Manawatu-Whanganui, for example, the original plan has been watered down as farmers voted in a friendlier council.
So, the regulation needs to come from above the regional councils.
Actually, I can't blame the farmers entirely. They are defending their livelihoods and many of them have done everything that has been asked of them.
I have defended them in the past, and then been let down as an independent survey showed more were non-compliant than previously thought.
Now, Fonterra is giving its suppliers till the end of next season to fence off all their waterways. Very good. I applaud Fonterra. Keeping cows from excreting in streams is a big step. But that won't stop the leaching. Riparian strips would help, but the company isn't going that far.
Other measures are being taken. Nutrient budgeting, a system of working out the correct amount of fertiliser, including animal waste, to be applied on a farm, is excellent. But I wonder how finely tuned it is to sensitive soils?
And a worthy scheme is under way to demonstrate on trial farms how farmers can manage nitrogen and phosphate leaching without losing production. But turnout at field days has been low.
It's also hard to blame farmers for the leaching of past decades that is showing up only now. But this season, with its growthy summer stretching into autumn, is producing a lot more milk, and a lot more animal waste. The problem is getting worse.
I blame farmer-owned Fonterra's headlong pursuit of ever-more milk production for the environmental predicament we find ourselves in. Complicit in this are the governments that have not acted fast enough to apply some restraint.
And yet Fonterra is just doing what companies do in a free-market economy – making as much money as it can.
Fewer cows means an income cut for farmers in sensitive areas, and a reduction in the economic benefit to their communities. Compensation should be offered – some from Fonterra and some from the Government. That would be fair.
I know that in the past I have argued for a national survey to discover just what level of environmental protection we would prefer. Such a survey would show the economic effect each level of regulation would have on the individual.
But I have changed my mind. It is clear the pollution will only worsen if something is not done now. We should be thinking of the generations to come.
Let's face it, we are a selfish lot. Compared with previous generations we have it easy. We are guilty of endangering the future. It is our turn to feel a little pain so we don't leave future generations with a bigger mess to clean up.