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Land Land use
Intensive pastoral land use
Recent trends in land use in New Zealand include an increase in intensive pastoral land use with higher stocking rates and stocking densities.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Agricultural Production Index 2006, production rates from pastoral farming increased in New Zealand by 38 per cent between 1990 and 2003. The increase in production is mainly due to:
- more intensive farming (ie, an increase in stocking rates or more livestock numbers per hectare)
- more productivity per animal (for example, increased milk production per cow, or higher lambing percentages and carcass weights).
Sheep and beef cattle numbers have fallen since the early 1980s, while dairy cow and deer numbers have increased. Dairy cow numbers have almost doubled (from 2.92 million in 1981 to 5.22 million by 2006) even though the number of dairy farms has decreased. The national dairy herd grew by 24 per cent between 1996 and 2006. As the area farmed fell, agricultural productivity increased.
Livestock numbers in New Zealand, 1981 - 2006
Data source: Ministry for the Environment.
Text description
The above graph shows changes in livestock numbers nationally, measured in millions of animals, for sheep, beef cattle, dairy cows and deer between 1981 and 2006.
This intensification of agricultural land use has occurred as farmers have responded to economic signals by converting suitable dry-stock pasture, exotic forestry and existing dairy farms into more intensive dairy farms.
A change to more intensive farming in some regions has resulted in:
- further reduction of freshwater quality in lowland rivers and waterways
- changes in soil health
- increases in some greenhouse gas emissions (for example, methane).
The intensification of dairy and deer farming has been particularly notable in the South Island. Intensive agriculture is most common in the lowland areas of Northland, Waikato, Taranaki, Manawatū, Canterbury and Southland.
The intensification of pastoral land use has led to a noticeable increase in the use of fertilisers and irrigation in high-producing exotic pastures, both of which have increased the environmental pressures on our waterways and groundwater.
This information has come from the latest national state of the environment report Environment New Zealand 2007.
Last updated: December 2007
