1 Summary
This is a recommended Monitoring and Reporting Strategy for the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord. It follows from discussion by the Accord partners (Fonterra, 13 regional authorities, the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and the Ministry of Agriculture) of a draft strategy prepared by Environmental Management Services Limited, followed by further discussions with MfE and the other Accord partners.
There are five separate elements to the Accord. In broad terms these are that dairy cattle be excluded from larger streams, that regular dairy crossings be bridged or culverted, that all dairy farmers comply with resource consent or permitted activity standards, that all dairy farmers carry out nutrient budgeting, and that all regionally significant wetlands on dairy farms be fenced out.
Present reporting on progress towards meeting the agreed targets for each of those five elements of the Accord is primarily by farmer self-reporting, with some auditing carried out on behalf of Fonterra.
Some of the Accord targets, however, are not well defined, and so are open to different interpretations. This report recommends measures to better define those targets. It also promotes some independent monitoring by regional authorities that will give greater credibility to the results on implementation of Accord targets reported by farmers and Fonterra. Fonterra have indicated that they agree with the recommendations in this report and the process whereby these recommendations may be incorporated into improving the measurement of progress towards Accord targets. Accordingly, we are confident that future reporting on progress towards Accord targets will be more reliable and credible.
Twelve of the 13 regions in which Fonterra operates have prepared Regional Action Plans to define how the Accord partners (Fonterra, the regional authority, and sometimes Federated Farmers) will make progress towards implementing the Accord. Most of those Regional Action Plans follow a similar template. Three councils - Taranaki, Marlborough and Otago - have used the plans to look more broadly at the impacts of dairying on the environment. At the time of writing, no Regional Action Plan explicitly addressed monitoring the environmental outcomes of implementing the Accord.
It will be difficult to link the implementation of the Accord with measurable effects in watercourses. A large number of factors affect water quality and biota in streams, and it will not be easy to separate what might be the relatively minor benefits of implementing the Accord from the background 'noise' due to all other factors. Certainly both national and regional level datasets are far too general to separate out the benefits of implementing the Accord from all the factors, including land-use activities, that impact on water and habitat quality in rivers and streams. However, it is considered that the recommended strategy will be able to provide a more thorough picture of Accord benefits for receiving waters.
For the last six years Dairy Insight, the Sustainable Farming Fund and participating regional councils have carried out extensive work in four best practice dairy catchments. These are the Toenepi in the Waikato, the Waiokura in Taranaki, the Waikakahi in South Canterbury and the Bog Burn in Southland. Studies have included intensive work on water quality, soil quality and farm management. The work done in these catchments has been summarised, and it is recommended that the current monitoring be reviewed to see how it can be modified to assess the environmental benefits of implementing the Accord. In saying this, it is noted that in those catchments good progress has already been made towards achieving Accord targets, such as the fencing out of streams and nutrient management, and other best management practices are being implemented. Accordingly, it will not be easy to separate out the benefits of implementing the Accord in those areas.
The main proposed thrust of this strategy is to develop over time reasonably intensive monitoring programmes in up to 10 representative watercourses around the country to monitor the environmental benefits of implementing the Accord (and indeed other improved practices in dairying catchments). Where possible, these programmes build on existing State of the Environment (or other specific monitoring) carried out by regional authorities. Staff in regional authorities proposed particular catchments in their region, which are referred to as second-tier catchments. These were filtered through five criteria to assess suitability:
- the nature of the catchment (it should not be too large and should have a defined reach predominantly in dairying)
- implementation of the Accord should not be too far progressed
- ideally existing water and habitat quality will be degraded so that benefits can more readily be measured
- there is good knowledge of land use in the catchment
- ideally there will be existing information (such as from State of the Environment monitoring programmes) on water quality, biota and flows.
In these catchments a very good understanding will be needed of their general characteristics (such as stream type, underlying geology etc), [Some of this will be available through the Regional Ecotype Classification (REC) database held by MfE.] land use and progress towards meeting the Accord targets. Extensive water quality monitoring on a monthly basis is required at several sites in each catchment, at least one of which is upstream of any influence of dairying. The strategy makes recommendations as to what parameters need to be monitored. If possible, more intensive water quality and biological monitoring should be undertaken in summer when the benefits of implementing the Accord are likely to be greatest. It may be possible to collect intensive information for one year and then reduce the intensity of the monitoring programme for several years, prior to undertaking intensive monitoring again. Intensive monitoring is recommended to be undertaken at least one year in four, however, so any long-term trends can be picked up.
It is likely to take at least five years, and more likely 10 to 15 years, before definitive trends can be confirmed.
The exact detail for how any proposed monitoring could be carried out in individual rivers and streams has not been specified in this strategy. Rather, the most likely candidate catchments are listed. Final monitoring design will be the responsibility of the relevant regional authority.
A third limb to the strategy is also recommended. It would involve specific case studies looking at the benefits of implementing the Accord, or an element of the Accord, on one to two properties. These case studies could, for example, study the benefits of bridging a frequently used crossing, or a range of interventions on a single property. Such studies already exist, although at this stage they have not been reviewed in detail.
This report recommends that results from the intensively monitored catchments be collated every five years starting in 2012. It also suggests how the results from these catchments may be able to be aggregated or extrapolated to indicate national trends (although much caution will need to be applied in any such exercise because of the small 'sample' available).
Finally, in carrying out this work it is recognised that the Accord will be only a first step, and that there are many other interventions that can help minimise the effects of dairying on the environment. Many of these are already showing very promising results. They include, for instance, the use of low-pressure irrigation systems for effluent disposal, and the use of nitrification inhibitors to reduce nitrate-nitrogen contamination of groundwater. Where these have been identified they are listed in section 9 of this report, for consideration as priorities for future educational or extension activities by Fonterra.
A full list of recommendations is in section 10 of this report.
