title: The financial costs of environmental compliance through reducing nitrate leaching for a range of Waikato dairy farm system intensities

authors: Macdonald, Thomas Owen

subjects: Dairy

abstract: The New Zealand dairy industry has grown significantly over the past decade through increasing both area farmed and the number of cows milked.  Dairy farm systems have intensified as a result of the use of supplementary feeding, increased stocking rate and land use changes. Environmental regulations have been implemented as a means to limit and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of dairy under the National Policy Statement for Fresh Water. In the Waikato, regulation to date has predominatly been focused on effluent storage and application. As such, regulation has not yet shaped how Waikato farm systems are implemented. It is likely that future regulation for the Waikato will include nitrogen loss limits. Management of nutrient cycles will therefore become a high priority for effective farm management as well as being used to inform the adoption of changes to farming systems.
Four nitrogen (N) loss mitigation strategies were modelled for Waikato dairy farm systems of low, medium and high input to show the changes in N leaching and economic farm surplus per hectare. Reductions in N leaching for farm environmental compliance were able to be achieved through farm management practices as well as through additional farm infrastructure. Large reductions of 20 percent and 17 percent were achieved through destocking and cow housing scenarios respectively. A corresponding lift in farm surplus per hectare of 1 percent and 11 percent was recorded. Similarly, moderate reductions in N leaching were achieved through winter grazing off farm (9 percent) and increased effluent management facilities (8 percent). However a 4 percent reduction in farm surplus was noted for the winter grazing scenario while increasing the effluent area had no material impact on farm working expenses or revenue. 
This research identified cow housing as farm infrastructure which for low, medium and high input farm systems was able to return a reduction in N leaching greater than 15 percent and increase farm surplus by greater than 9 percent. 
The implementation of cow housing was modelled for a large scale farm system in the Taharua catchment where N limits are currently being enforced. Results of the modelling show a cow housing facility for large scale dairy farming has a positive internal rate of return of 13 percent. 
Waikato dairy farmers were surveyed to gather data on the initial capital cost of compliance and the farm system implications of increased regulation to date. The survey illustrated that effluent compliance has been the focus of investment and highlights the significant cost to the dairy industry of internalising environmental impacts. Aggregated survey results indicate that the capital cost of environmental spending to date for the average Waikato farm system has totaled $1.02 per kgMS, $1487 per hectare or $404 per cow. This equates to an average investment of $110,000 per farm.
A clear understanding of the impact of environmental regulation and the relative cost of compliance for different farm systems is needed to produce accurate measures of environmental performance and to improve the cost efficiency of dairy production systems. Importantly there is a need to understand how different farming systems can work together at a catchment, regional and national level to achieve both value creation and environmental sustainability as set out in the national policy frameworks.

text: The financial costs of environmental compliance through reducing nitrate leaching for a range of Waikato dairy farm system intensities The New Zealand dairy industry has grown significantly over the past decade through increasing both area farmed and the number of cows milked.  Dairy farm systems have intensified as a result of the use of supplementary feeding, increased stocking rate and land use changes. Environmental regulations have been implemented as a means to limit and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of dairy under the National Policy Statement for Fresh Water. In the Waikato, regulation to date has predominatly been focused on effluent storage and application. As such, regulation has not yet shaped how Waikato farm systems are implemented. It is likely that future regulation for the Waikato will include nitrogen loss limits. Management of nutrient cycles will therefore become a high priority for effective farm management as well as being used to inform the adoption of changes to farming systems.
Four nitrogen (N) loss mitigation strategies were modelled for Waikato dairy farm systems of low, medium and high input to show the changes in N leaching and economic farm surplus per hectare. Reductions in N leaching for farm environmental compliance were able to be achieved through farm management practices as well as through additional farm infrastructure. Large reductions of 20 percent and 17 percent were achieved through destocking and cow housing scenarios respectively. A corresponding lift in farm surplus per hectare of 1 percent and 11 percent was recorded. Similarly, moderate reductions in N leaching were achieved through winter grazing off farm (9 percent) and increased effluent management facilities (8 percent). However a 4 percent reduction in farm surplus was noted for the winter grazing scenario while increasing the effluent area had no material impact on farm working expenses or revenue. 
This research identified cow housing as farm infrastructure which for low, medium and high input farm systems was able to return a reduction in N leaching greater than 15 percent and increase farm surplus by greater than 9 percent. 
The implementation of cow housing was modelled for a large scale farm system in the Taharua catchment where N limits are currently being enforced. Results of the modelling show a cow housing facility for large scale dairy farming has a positive internal rate of return of 13 percent. 
Waikato dairy farmers were surveyed to gather data on the initial capital cost of compliance and the farm system implications of increased regulation to date. The survey illustrated that effluent compliance has been the focus of investment and highlights the significant cost to the dairy industry of internalising environmental impacts. Aggregated survey results indicate that the capital cost of environmental spending to date for the average Waikato farm system has totaled $1.02 per kgMS, $1487 per hectare or $404 per cow. This equates to an average investment of $110,000 per farm.
A clear understanding of the impact of environmental regulation and the relative cost of compliance for different farm systems is needed to produce accurate measures of environmental performance and to improve the cost efficiency of dairy production systems. Importantly there is a need to understand how different farming systems can work together at a catchment, regional and national level to achieve both value creation and environmental sustainability as set out in the national policy frameworks.

year: 2014

title: Covenons! We owe our store to the company’s soul...

authors: Yoos ii, Charles J.

subjects: business organization

abstract: We argue that in contemporary business organizations, in which fundamental purpose is construed to be increased value—especially in ‘participative’ organizations, in which non–hierarchal interaction (for example, work teams) is the norm; and in ‘adaptive’ organizations, in which unpredictable change is the rule—a process of values covenanting will be much more valueable than just espoused values or even values covenants. We propose such a process model for organizational values covenanting and argue that such covenanting reflects an anthropomorphism of the human character development process, validated in terms of the theory of viable systems.

text: Covenons! We owe our store to the company’s soul... We argue that in contemporary business organizations, in which fundamental purpose is construed to be increased value—especially in ‘participative’ organizations, in which non–hierarchal interaction (for example, work teams) is the norm; and in ‘adaptive’ organizations, in which unpredictable change is the rule—a process of values covenanting will be much more valueable than just espoused values or even values covenants. We propose such a process model for organizational values covenanting and argue that such covenanting reflects an anthropomorphism of the human character development process, validated in terms of the theory of viable systems.

year: 2008

title: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions'

authors: Hayes (Bluett), Shilo Jane

subjects: imaginary companions

abstract: The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

text: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions' The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

year: 2020