Dairy farmers urged to stop using palm oil by-product

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Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:00a.m.

By Libby Middlebrook

Dairy farmers are being blamed for the destruction of tropical rain forests. New Zealand cows ate more than 1 million tonnes of palm kernels last year - a quarter of the world's total consumption of the palm oil by-product.

Environmentalists say the trade is a death sentence for endangered orangutans.

New Zealand dairy farmers are now being held partly responsible for turning the once-lush Indonesian rainforest into a charred, smoking wasteland.

"Clear felling the rainforest, some of the last great rainforest, in order to feed dairy cows I think is environmental suicide," says Green Party co-leader Russel Norman.

Last year, local dairy farmers imported $300 million worth of palm kernel. It is a by-product of palm oil production, used to feed cattle.

"New Zealand dairy is sold overseas as clean and green, with cows on green pastures, and so if people realise that in fact those cows are being fed on a product of the destruction of the last of the great rainforest, it will be extremely damaging," says Mr Norman.

Pictures provided by Greenpeace show the devastation caused by the palm oil industry. It is also blamed for killing orangutans.

But farmers say they are not accountable, because palm kernel would be thrown away if not used as cattle feed, and dairy giant Fonterra claims much of what is imported here has no negative impact on the environment.

Palm oil products have already caused much controversy this month. Last week Cadbury bowed to public pressure and stopped using palm product in its chocolate.

Environmentalists say dairy farmers should follow the company's lead and find something else to feed their cows.

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Comments

14 Oct 2009 09:46a.m.

tegan wrote:

wwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww

26 Aug 2009 10:23a.m.

Beth wrote:

So I'm sure all New Zealander's would be happier if NZ farmers stopped producing dairy and exporting and providing the country herself with natural produce? I know that after the flood then the drought there was no other feed readily available to feed the cows - so they would rather let the cows and our economy die? The low production counts of maize/silage and hay produced because of the floods followed by the drought resulted in the prices being seriously hiked up for what little was available. The other problem being that when fed enormous amounts of silage and hay the cows suffer anyway. Palm kernel was the most affordable reasonable thing to use at the time. Most farmers at the moment cant afford their mortgage with the low payout price let alone to buy alternative food sources for the cows in such tough times. Perhaps if other better sources were available then go for it - but in the circumstances i say good on them/ Obviously NZ'ers are forgetting this > ?

24 Aug 2009 01:44a.m.

Twyla wrote:

Greetings from the USA. As a Kiwi living overseas, I will let folks know this atrocity! Once the word gets out, some importing countries of NZ dairy products will stop. There is a strong feeling over here that healthy for me should be healthy for all. Plants and animals included.

23 Aug 2009 09:46p.m.

Lisa Kaan wrote:

I have been following the palm-oil/rainforest thing for awhile now,feeling completly helpless.I am glad it is becoming public now.We can make a deference,but we are running out of time.With an area of rainforest the size of three football fields is cut down every minute!Then there is the wildlife,that depend on the rainforest for survival.The human/orangutan encounters can be horrific.Plantation workers often show no mercy,the orangutans are viciously attacked and tortured before being killed.It is estimated that no less than 5,000 orangutans are killed every year.At this rate,complete extinction of one of our closest relatives would occur within 10 years.Remember these amazing creatures share 96% of there DNA with humans,and are the worlds most intelligent creatures,second only to humans!Now palm oil is everywere,found in thousands of products from ,ice cream,biscuits and chips,through to toothpaste,soap and cosmetics.Without knowing it we are all fuelling a phenomenal growth in demand for a crop that is leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.New Zealanders need to demand that any of our favourite products that contain palm oil,only contain palm oil from non destructive sources.Most companies wont even know were there palm oil originates.I think the first step is to do a broadcast on the news of what is happening in Indonisia,and what products contain palm oil,i think you will find,alot of people have no idea this is going on,or the extent of it.As for farmers,I think you will find most of them have no idea even what plant there palm kernal comes from.I no my boss didnt.Come on ,please let New Zealand know,so we can all make a noise,and a diffence together!

23 Aug 2009 09:10p.m.

Sean Whyte wrote:

New Zealand farmers are killing orangutans to feed their cattle Biodiversity concerns and their very real threat to New Zealand's unique flora and fauna, aside for a moment, I wonder if farmers in New Zealand really understand by importing palm kernel they are contributing to the annual death of up to three thousand orangutans, millions of other animals and rainforest trees destroyed? It seems a dying shame farmers in a country where appreciation of its own environment could scarcely be greater, and rightly so, appear to have no concerns about feeding their cattle at the expense of the Indonesian environment. The palm oil industry (which provides palm kernel to Kiwi farmers) is responsible for the mass slaughter of thousands of orangutans, a legally protected species. If the same farmers were not previously aware of this problem, they are now. If their cattle eat this palm kernel and go on to produce milk which then goes into butter, the commercial consequences of selling butter tainted with the blood of orangutans could be immeasurable and doubtless very costly. Consumers will refuse to buy it. My hope is the farmers will think again and ask themselves do they really want to have the deaths of so many endangered animals on their conscience. There can be no misunderstanding - palm kernel, like palm oil, kills millions of wild animals every year. Evidence of this is to be found at www.naturealert.org and Blog http://naturealert.blogspot.com/ Sean Whyte, Chief Executive, Nature Alert