The power of partnership: Farmers, iwi and communities joining forces to improve water quality | Ep. 107

Talking Dairy

What’s going to improve our water quality and keep enabling productivity? In this episode, we discuss practical and proven solutions from key catchments.

Johan van Ras, Ron Pellow and Justin Kitto share what’s worked, from stream planting and edge-of-field mitigations to simple farm system changes that reduce nitrogen loss. You’ll hear how farmers, iwi and communities made progress together through the Sustainable Catchments programme, and how you can apply the same ideas on your farm.

The Sustainable Catchments programme was funded by investment from the Ministry for the Environment’s Jobs for Nature programme and dairy farmers via the DairyNZ levy.

You can also read the story of their success finding solutions on page 8 & 9 in the Inside Dairy August-October 2025 edition: Practical solutions for catchments

Links to information mentioned in this episode:
Riparian planting - DairyNZ | DairyNZ

Waimea catchment | DairyNZ

South Canterbury Catchment | DairyNZ

Monitoring water quality in catchments | DairyNZ

Stream ecosystem health | DairyNZ

Low N Systems | DairyNZ

Catchment Group Support | DairyNZ

Have feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at [email protected]

Connect with DairyNZ

Stay up to date with advice, latest research, tools and resources. Read, browse, scroll, listen, or be there in person. Visit dairynz.co.nz/get-connected

Kapitel

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. What is the Sustainable Catchments Programme? (00:02:36)

3. Why these catchments? (00:04:27)

4. What are edge-of-field mitigations? (00:07:00)

5. What farm system changes are being made? (00:10:58)

6. What's happening in the Pokaiwhenua catchment? (00:12:35)

7. What’s the impact of riparian planting? (00:19:27)

8. Where should farmers start? (00:29:27)

9. Episode summary (00:31:06)