More than 700 dairy farmers in Waikato are involved in the largest environmental project ever undertaken by the dairy industry.
The Upper Waikato Sustainable Milk Project is looking to boost farm profits while reducing their farms' impacts on the environment.
Dairy NZ's sustainability programme is involved in the project and its strategy and investment leader, Rick Pridmore, says the upper Waikato is expecting a new plan change on rural land use to be introduced.
Dr Pridmore says a concern has been that the Waikato River may be receiving too many nutrients and the aim was to get dairy farmers to make a difference to that voluntarily and improve the water quality, before additional regulation was deemed essential.
He says the fact that farmers are voluntarily taking action is also important in influencing the public's perception of them.
Dr Pridmore says actions being taken by farmers include fencing creeks and using a variety of methods to reduce the nutrient loss from their farms, such as putting in wetlands to help absorb some of the nutrients that would normally end up in waterways or improving their effluent systems.
He says the project is being funded by Dairy NZ, the Waikato River Authority and some money has also come from the Government's Primary Growth Partnership.
