Winners focused on good problems?
OPINION: Big, bigger, biggest. That seems to be the organiser’s expectation for annual events these days.
Last week’s 50th anniversary of Fieldays may not have been the biggest yet but from my personal perspective, Fieldays 2018 was a blast.
Great weather for wandering about the exhibition. Although the endless rain on the Tuesday made set-up trying.
Lot’s of people. Although my impression was that numbers were fewer than last year.
A diverse range of products for sale. Although many reflected our hedonistic nature, than a need for a sustainable future.
Some really exciting innovations. Although the awards given did not reflect the judges’ claim that the winners ‘‘… were successful at picking good problems to solve’’.
Acuris Systems won the Grassroots Prototype Award with a robot that counts kiwifruit on the vine.
Good for kiwifruit corporate profits perhaps, but is it really going to make a difference to our future on this earth?
Pamu Farming (previously known as Landcorp) won the Grassroots Established Award with their development of deer milk as an approved food so that it can now ‘‘… assess [its] market demand and price tolerance’’.
This example of putting the milk urn before the cow takes the focus away from solving any one our many farming problems.
And with the carbon footprint of deer being similar to that of cattle, what is the point of milking deer? Ahhh… greater corporate profits.
A Fieldays Prototype Highly Commended award went to Maraeroa C Incorporation for their Ginseng Berry Gin.
Yes, a New Zealand first, but does the world need another subtly flavoured alcoholic drink?
But it will fatten their corporate profits.
Please excuse my cynicisms, but like this government, and the one before it, the Innovation Centre judging panel seem focused on the economic benefits of innovations and insufficiently focused on solving environment and social issues.
One innovation on display that did address those consequences was a dairy waste treatment system.
Rather than the traditional path of effluent disposal, to land and water, this system treats the dairy sewage.
The outflows are clean water that is recycled for wash down use, and solids that are composted.
So politicians Damien O’Connor and James Shaw are wrong when they say that dairy farmers will have to reduce cattle stocking densities in order to stay within nitrogen loading limits on pastures.
As soon as it is switched on, this treatment system reduces nitrogen loading to pastures by up to 18 per cent.
Thus directly helping to make our rivers swimmable.
It also reduces methane emissions from effluent ponds. Thus directly addressing one of the drivers of global warming.
It also reduces freshwater use in the dairy shed by recycling wash down water.
Instead of solving sustainability problems like these, Fieldays reflects our focus on growth and self-gratification, and so ensures a non-sustainable future for our grandchildren.