News Release:
Environment footing the bill for dairy deregulation
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Date 14/5/01 No 058/01 The prospect of huge, mechanised farms with effluent disposal problems
is one of the unintended consequences of dairy deregulation, according
to Associate Professor Jim Scott of the University of New England. "Consumers have never been asked whether they are prepared
to accept these environmental consequences of having cheaper milk,"
he said. "What our politicians have unwittingly done is to
create a system where consumers do not pay for the environmental
costs of their food production, thus creating long-term problems
for our society." Dr Scott, a pasture lecturer in UNE’s School of Rural Science and Natural Resources, was speaking at a "Dairy Crisis" meeting at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, last month. Other speakers at the meeting included dairy farmers, feed suppliers, legal advisers and rural counsellors. Dairy deregulation is now a reality following the dismantling of milk market support schemes in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia on July 1, 2000. Dr Scott said that, as farmers are having to accept lower margins,
they are being forced to increase herd sizes. "This will inevitably
lead to huge industrial cow factories," he said, "because
there will not be enough rain-fed pasture within walking distance
of the dairy. These factory farms will be run very intensively,
with massive inputs including irrigated crops to feed the cows.
This will mean effluent disposal problems and inefficient redistribution
of nutrients which ultimately will have to be dealt with."
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Dr Scott said this would be occurring in a country with enough
rain-fed pastures to produce cheap feed in a sustainable fashion.
He reported that a 600 mL bottle of water had cost him $1.55, whereas
a 600 mL bottle of milk had cost $0.95. "Does the consumer
really believe that this makes sense?" he asked. "By pushing
farmers to an unsustainable brink, society is forcing them to adopt
an unsustainable production system which won’t provide funds
to look after the land as it should." Referring to recent reports of some anomalies in the equitable distribution of the compensation package, he said: "This doesn’t change the fact that most farmers are suffering. Anyone attending the crisis meeting in Brisbane could not have left untouched by the many stories of massive hardship being faced by most. The fact remains that consumers have never been asked if they want their food to be produced in an environmentally responsible and sustainable fashion. The result of deregulation is the exact opposite of this ideal." Media contact: Associate Professor Jim Scott, School of Rural Science and Natural Resources, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 2436 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049. |
