"Sustainable Intensification"

It's nice to get past the 2011 NZ government elections.  And if I am honest, good to have the same government in place with relatively stable policy settings.

Often the discussion during an election campaign is black and white.  "A" is good, "B" is bad.  It's a bit like that when dairy farming is discussed.  Depending on your view, dairy is either good for the country or bad for it.  On the one hand, we produce valuable export receipts and generate tens of thousands of jobs, on the other dairy creates green house gases and contributes to polluted water ways.

There are pros and cons for each of their views; dairy creates wealth but it also has an effect on the environment.

In it's latest report the United Nations challenges these traditional views and states that we need to achieve both increased output AND better environmental performance in their report released and referenced in the following article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10769448

Readers of this blog will be familiar with the themes - higher populations, growing middle classes, degraded land and reduced investment in science and technology are all creating pressures on the supply and demand for food.

What is also interesting is that the report was released at the start of the latest conference on climate change.

The question is, can producers and environmentalists work together, rather than against each other, to achieve "sustainable intensification".  Lives probably depend on it.