Dairy industry blasts NZ ecologist's New York Times piece as 'un-Kiwi'

August 26, 2019
An images of cows eating in front of Mount Taranaki New Zealand

Dairy farming industry sources have hit out at an opinion piece by a New Zealand ecologist published in the New York Times, calling it 'un-Kiwi'.

Freshwater ecologist Mike Joy's piece, titled ' The Incontinent Cows of Middle-earth ', was co-written by journalist David Larsen, and addressed the effects of rising nitrate usage on dairy farms, which has in turn affected rivers and water sources.

"We prefer to tell the world about our hobbits, our pristine rivers, our unspoiled natural environment," they wrote.

"These things are all fictional - the cows, alas, are real.

"The move to dairy farming has had the air of a rural-sector gold rush...Canterbury provides a disastrous case study in the consequences for our freshwater systems.

"The rivers of Canterbury are not 100 percent pure; they are a long way from clean, and if they seem green, it's because of the algal levels."

New Zealand dairy industry spokespeople have today responded to the article, with Federated Farmers dairy chariman Chris Lewis telling Stuff that "sending an opinion piece like that to The New York Times, all it does is undermine New Zealand's economy and the people who work on it.

"It's easy to fire off words, it's harder to get out there and do the work that we're doing," Mr Lewis told Stuff.

"You can say whatever you want but if you're not picking up a spade to help, what are you actually contributing?"

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle said it was "gutting" to see the article printed in a large overseas outlet.

"It's a very un-Kiwi thing to do, to go and criticise not only agriculture but also tourism," he told Stuff.

"New Zealand won't solve its water quality issues if we're just focused on dairy."

SHARE ME

More Stories