Pollution makes dairying "zero-sum" gain for New Zealand: researchers

The costs of cleaning up the environmental effects of New Zealand's dairy farming could exceed the industry's total export revenue and the country's gross domestic product, New Zealand scientists said Tuesday.

A report by Massey University researchers calculated externalities, costs to the community in the form of lost recreation opportunities and clean-up costs, which were borne by society rather than industry, they said.

"The industry is a zero-sum gain for New Zealand if the costs are included," co-author Dr Mike Joy said in a statement.

"These results will not be welcomed by many and are a wake-up call for the industry that can't be ignored."

New Zealand dairying had changed radically in recent decades, from a low input, low cost and low impact system to high intensity, high cost, high impact system, increasingly reliant on imported feed and fertiliser.

Milk production had increased four-fold and the number of dairy cows had doubled, changes mirrored by a massive increase in pollution.

"The New Zealand situation is different from most of the rest of the world, where cows are in barns. Ours are outside so it is virtually impossible to stop their waste leaking into the environment. This leaking waste is in the form of excess nutrients into freshwater, eventually into oceans, and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere," said Joy.

The authors said the solution was to prevent pollution rather than try to clean it up afterwards.

"Many farmers may actually increase their profit by reducing pollution: as they reduce their production, their costs will also decrease, with less reliance on outside inputs," he said.

Research released by Waikato University in February showed New Zealand businesses were increasingly calling for government intervention to prevent the country's lax environmental regulation damaging trade and the country's "clean, green" brand image.

New Zealand environment campaigners and academics have long warned that the country's reliance on primary industries was leading to a deteriorating environment.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, issued a report in November 2013, forecasting further deterioration of waterways if the country continued to expand and intensify dairy farming. Endi