The National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management now requires that water quality objectives and limits be set for all water bodies in New Zealand. Where objectives result in the development of nitrate limits for waterways and development pressure is likely to make these limits difficult to...

Nutrient emissions from agricultural land are now widely recognized as one of the key contributors to poor water quality in local lakes, rivers and streams. Nutrient trading has been suggested as a regulatory tool to improve and protect water quality. However, farmers’ attitudes suggest that...

Historically NZ dairy farming has held a position as the lowest cost, non-subsidized producers at the farm gate. Recently, this position has been eroded as a result of increases in labor and land costs, while other emerging countries, such as Argentina and Ukraine, have adopted lower cost...

We consider two approaches to quantify New Zealand farmers’ ability to mitigate their farm’s environmental impact: The construction of marginal abatement cost curves and improvements in farm management practices. Marginal abatement cost curves can be constructed by combining information on...

Among the green lobby and the general public there is urgency for agriculture to clean up its act on environmental issues. Increased intensification of land use and in particular dairying has led to environmental spill-overs that the public is no longer willing to tolerate. Agriculture is in...

The intensity of agricultural production affects both nutrient and greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental policy designed to reduce one type of pollution may have complementary effects on the other type. This paper explores this issue in the Lake Rotorua catchment in New Zealand using an...

This paper describes further progress in a new approach to stakeholder consultation for policies about agricultural land uses and water quality in rural waterways; a process that was begun early in 2012. The initial consultation events provided the basis for a future draft of Greater Wellington...

This paper reviews the progress to date of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy and identifies key developments and emerging issues. The paper examines the provision of storage, water use efficiency, environmental flow adjustments, nutrients from land use intensification, biodiversity...