Are you someone who cares for the land you live on and your local community? Do you put the environment at the forefront of your farm? If yes, then you are a Dairy Environment Leader!

What is Dairy Environment Leaders?

Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) is a farmer-led network who's vision is: 'Supporting dairy farmer actions to encourage and influence a sustainable future.'

What does a Dairy Environment Leader do?

Dairy Environment Leaders are dairy farmers who lead by example in reducing their environmental footprint, seek to support their fellow farmers to do the same, influence decision-makers to create fair and practical environmental policy, and share with the wider community the great work dairy farmers are doing.

This nationwide network of farmers are practically minded and are environmentally conscious. As a combined group, they have undertaken some incredible projects to improve their local areas. Here are a few of them:

DEL forums

Each year, the Dairy Environment Leaders hold a regional or national farmer-led forum. The forum is typically in Wellington and is a chance for the farmers to:  

• Network with like-minded farmers across the country
• Attend leadership training sessions
• Hear about industry challenges and opportunities
• Connect with government officials

The diverse backgrounds of Dairy Environment Leaders means a considerable amount of farming and industry knowledge is brought to the annual forum to accelerate positive change for the dairy industry.

Join the DEL movement

• Step 1: Know your numbers

  Understand your environmental footprint and overall profitability by knowing your GHG emissions, purchased N surplus, and operating profit.

  • There are many places you can find your GHG emissions and purchased N surplus (e.g. Fonterra Insights Report, Overseer, Farmax).
  • If you don’t know your operating profit you can:
    • Call your local Extension Partner
    • Use the balance sheet template on our budgeting tools webpage
    • Join DairyBase

  See how you compare to other local farmers using the regional information at the bottom of our Know your numbers page.

• Step 2: Get a freshwater farm plan of FEP

  Farm environment plans

• Step 3: DEL commitments

  Lead by example 

  1. Take responsibility for understanding your business’s environmental impact.
  2. Strive to reduce that impact through early adoption of positive environmental practices.
  3. Share experience and knowledge with other farmers at events, committees, catchment groups and networks to encourage the adoption of positive environmental practices.

  Influence decision-makers 

  4. Connect with local MPs, government advisors, stakeholder groups and councils to bring policy closer to the farm, ensuring that dairy farmers' views are heard, and policies can fit with farming practices. 

  Share your hard work

  5. Tell your story to increase understanding and appreciation of dairy farmers' efforts. 
  6. Have a presence in the media through stories, social media and video.

• Step 4: Show pride and be recognised

  Show pride in being a Dairy Environment Leader and be recognised for the work you do.

• Step 5: Connect with other DELs

  Connect with other DEL farmers to share ideas, stories, or inspiration through the Facebook group, national or regional DEL forums, catchment groups, or local DairyNZ events.

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