26 Nov 2009

Greens launch 'good news' farming website

4:39 pm on 26 November 2009

A new website recognising the innovative and environmentally friendly ways some farmers operate has been launched by the Green Party.

Conceived by the party's agriculture spokesperson, former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, it showcases 18 farms that she says have found creative ways of protecting water quality and drought-proofing their properties while reducing pesticide and fertiliser use.

She says the aim of the website is to share good-news stories with both the farming community and the general public.

"We hear often about some of the environmentally bad things around farming," Ms Fitzsimons says. "I haven't written about any of that: I've focused on finding the good-news stories and telling those."

She says the Green Party wants to "go shoulder to shoulder with good farmers who are doing things in an environmentally sustainable way and give them all the support that we can."