Dairy Australia - Environment a higher priority on dairy farms
Published: November 29, 2006
Source : Dairy Australia
The Australian dairy industry’s peak service body Dairy Australia conducted a random survey of more than 1200 of the country’s dairy farmers to compare how their natural resource management practices compared with six years ago.
According to Dairy Australia head of Natural Resources Cathy Phelps the survey found that membership of a NRM group was strongly linked to the adoption of NRM practices.
“Since 2000, 25 per cent more dairy farmers have become members of NRM groups,” Ms Phelps said.
More farmers have joined NRM groups such as WestVic NRM Focus Farms and Dairying Better’n’Better because of industry-led programs such as GipRip, DairyCatch and Farmer Targets for Change.
"For example, there has been an increase in a range of environmentally-friendly irrigation, effluent and other on-farm management practices," she said.
Australian Dairy Farmers deputy CEO Robert Poole said the survey provided evidence that the Australian dairy industry was continuing to be a leader in the adoption of best-practice environmental management.
"This is important for ensuring a sustainable industry and for demonstrating that the industry is doing its best to be socially responsible by farming in ways that reduce environmental impact on the wider community," Mr Poole said.
The survey found that the proportion of farmers irrigating had remained the same since 2000. However, it found there had been a substantial increase in the percentage of the farm area being irrigated.
The use of different irrigation systems varied significantly across the dairying regions, from almost exclusive use of flood irrigation in northern Victoria to the equally popular use of spray irrigation in western Victoria and Tasmania.
While almost all of the farmers interviewed believed that their irrigation system was efficient, a quarter of them intended to make best-practice changes in areas such as automation, laser grading and re-use systems.
Since 2000, more farmers are using pond systems to manage milking shed effluent and significantly fewer farmers are letting effluent drain directly into their paddocks.
While many dairy farmers had upgraded their effluent systems over the past few years, two thirds believed there was room for further improvement. Of these, a third intended to make changes in the next two years.
Over the past decade, more than half of the dairy farmers interviewed had implemented a re-vegetation program. Farmers did this mainly to provide shade and wind breaks to make their stock more comfortable. Aesthetics and property values also played a key role.
Dairy farmers were also more likely to be controlling stock access to waterways and protecting riparian areas compared to six years ago. Now only a third of farmers have unfenced waterways compared to almost half in 2000. Twelve per cent plan to do further fencing over the next two years.
Ms Phelps said: "The dairy industry should be proud of its achievements in best-practice NRM, particularly during the challenging period of industry restructuring and two successive droughts.
"But the industry is not going to rest on its laurels. The results of the survey suggest it is strongly committed to making further improvements. Most dairy farmers who were surveyed generally acknowledged that there was room for improvement in all the key environmental areas discussed and many intended to make further changes," Ms Phelps said.
About Dairy Australia
Dairy Australia provides the services needed to grow an internationally competitive, innovative and sustainable dairy industry. It is owned by the industry and has more than 6000 dairy enterprise members. Its nationwide and international activities are directed from Melbourne. The company invests about $32 million of dairy farmer levy payments and $15 million of taxpayer funds each year in projects and services for the benefit of the Australian dairy industry.
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