Ensuring biodiversity in dairy farming

Description

Dairy farming may affect the biodiversity of microbial species, grass or pasture species, soil, native vegetation, and other flora and fauna on the farm itself. It can also affect aquatic, downstream estuarine and coastal biodiversity because of the nutrients, pesticides and sediments transported away from the farm through surface runoff and groundwater. This chapter will address the impacts of dairy farming on biodiversity, approaches to biodiversity enhancement, measures for enhancing biodiversity and strategies for engaging farmers in biodiversity enhancement. It then reviews a number of case studies to illustrate these issues.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Impacts of dairy farming on biodiversity 3 Biodiversity enhancement 4 Strategies for engaging farmers in biodiversity enhancement 5 Case study 1: the effects of grazing on the bog turtle (USA) 6 Case study 2: impacts of organic dairy farming on biodiversity (Ireland and New Zealand) 7 Case study 3: riparian enhancement (New Zealand) 8 Case study 4: mixed methods for biodiversity enhancement (New Zealand) 9 Case study 5: three catchment case studies (South Island, New Zealand) 10 Conclusion 11 Where to look for further information 12 References