新西蘭英語 260 Indoor Dairy Farms on Hold
The three companies that were planning 16 indoor dairy farms in the Mackenzie country have decided not to go ahead at the moment. They said it had cost them nearly $4m already but now the Environment Ministry wants more information about the effluent. This is the waste from the cows. In the spring and summer, the farmers will spray it on the grass to help the grass grow but the Environment Ministry wants to know what will happen when the weather is cold. The companies think this will cost them another $2.6m to provide this information.
Listen to December 7th 2009 for more information about the plan for indoor farming.
Fonterra, which is the company which sells milk products in New Zealand and overseas, does not believe New Zealand needs indoor dairy farming, although Fonterra owns an indoor farm in China. There is already some indoor dairy farming in Southland in New Zealand. The owners of these three companies, which have land in the Mackenzie country, believe that New Zealand will have more indoor farming in the future. At the moment, many people do not like the idea of cows indoors for most of the year but we are running out of land for outdoor farming. Perhaps people will change their minds because milk products are now selling for such good prices overseas.
