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We have said
that sustainability

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is a key part of our
new strategy, right?

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That's the heart of what
we're gonna be doing.

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What's the news angle

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you're looking at?

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Is it
sustainability on farms?

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Is it that sustainability
on packaging?

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Is it sustainability
in our factories?

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- We're talking about climate
change, water quality,

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potential longevity
for our farmers.

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Are those topics
that you believe

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Fonterra would
like to comment on?

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We get these
requests all the time, Chris.

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We've got people here who've
got a business to run.

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What angle are you
taking, how's it gonna work?

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- We wanna hear every side
of the story, basically.

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There aren't sides

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to the story.
There's only one story.

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I'm assuming that's the angle
you're taking, 'cause that's

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the only angle, that is the
truth of the situation.

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- Kia ora. I'm Chris.

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This is where I'm from,

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the rural north of
Aotearoa, New Zealand.

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Surrounded by nature
and fortunate to have

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the family home next to
our local river, Mangatawa.

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Growing up, we tried our best

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to protect and
live with the land.

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We grew a lot of our own food

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and raised all the animals
you'd expect to see on a farm,

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chickens, goats,
pigs, sheep and cows,

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Like most Kiwi kids,

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I started the day with
milk on my Weet-Bix

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and never thought
twice about it.

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I was already worried about
the state of our planet

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when I came across this film.

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"Cowspiracy" showed
how animal agriculture

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is the driving force

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behind the environmental
breakdown that's happening

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and how people were too
afraid to talk about it.

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I was shocked, but I thought
that's America, not Aotearoa.

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We have grass-fed cows
and look after our land.

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And then I saw the
Environment Aotearoa Report

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showing the massive impact

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dairy is having on our country.

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I made a video about
the dairy industry

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that got a big response
on social media.

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Let's hear what
Fonterra has to say now.

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And I was surprised
when Fonterra commented,

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inviting me for a
coffee and a chat.

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But when I tried taking them up

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on the offer....

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Welcome to Fonterra.

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After the tone, please
record your message.

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After the tone, please
record your message.

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After the tone, please
record your message.

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- Why the change of heart?

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What did our country's
biggest company have to hide?

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I wanted to meet
with some people

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who were speaking out about

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the environmental
impacts of the

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dairy industry and see
what they could tell me.

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- Industrial dairying is this
country's biggest polluter.

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It's our biggest
climate emitter,

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emitting more greenhouse gases

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than our entire
transport sector.

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It's our biggest water polluter.

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And it's also a major stressor

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for biodiversity
and for soil health.

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Around the world,

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we've seen a massive
increase in a thing called

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oceanic dead zones.

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They're basically
areas of the ocean

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where there's been
so much algal growth,

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there's no oxygen, there's
no life in there anymore.

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That is what we are risking
on New Zealand's coastlines.

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- We are seeing a collapse
of our natural ecosystems.

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Most of that collapse
is coming about

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because of the pressure that
we are putting on those systems

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from commercial activities
like dairy farming.

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The consequence for nature
has been devastating.

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- New Zealand used to be
a land covered in forest.

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We've bowled down the forest,

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we've lost the biggest chunk
of wetlands in modern history

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in the last 100 years to
put more cows on paddocks.

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I discovered
that in Aotearoa

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our dairy industry creates
more greenhouse gas emissions

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than all cars, trucks, boats,
planes, and trains combined.

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And although we
brag about producing

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the most sustainable
milk in the world,

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the total emissions from
our booming dairy industry

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has increased 132%
in the last 30 years.

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A hundred and
thirty-two per cent!

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It's a global problem too.

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The top five meat
and dairy companies,

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which includes Fonterra,

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produce more emissions than
the whole of the United Kingdom

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and its 66 million people.

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That's also more than
the oil and gas companies

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ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.

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One study even showed
that in the next decade,

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Fonterra will make
up more than 100%

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of New Zealand's
total emissions target.

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And yet no one seemed to
be talking about this.

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Dr. Jane Goodall is one of
many well-known scientists

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who have been warning about
the impacts of climate change

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long before it was
all over the media.

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- If you consider we're
on this little ball,

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this little beautiful
planet of ours,

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and we're now surrounding it

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with these so-called
greenhouse gases,

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which is trapping
the heat of the sun,

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which is leading to the
changing weather patterns

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that are being so destructive
to the environment,

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to people and to
many, many animals...

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And while the
worst is yet to come,

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the balance of life on the
planet is already way out

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with farmed animals
and humans making up

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96% of the biomass of mammals
and only 4% is wild mammals.

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I also found out Aotearoa
has the highest proportion

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of threatened native
species on Earth.

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- No wonder we have
a biodiversity crisis.

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I'm not angry at the farmers.
I'm not blaming the farmers.

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They do what they have to do.

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And most of them do really
care about the environment.

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But the system that they're
caught up in is totally flawed.

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Just sticking to what we
are doing now has no future.

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The dairy industry

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is having a similar
impact around the world.

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And with the global demand
for food doubling by 2050,

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how could all this be
produced sustainably?

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Scientists warn that we'd need
at least five Earths by then,

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if everyone on the planet
eats as much dairy and meat

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as countries like
the United States.

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- It was Mahatma
Gandhi who said,

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"The planet can produce
enough for human need,

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but not human greed."

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Do we have to keep
doing things the same way?

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What if we could
produce that food

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without all the
resources and waste?

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From what I was discovering,

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it looked like there
are other ways,

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including something
the dairy industry

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doesn't want us to know about

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because it threatens
their very existence.

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But first I had to understand
how this mess all started

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and why we're still in it.

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Just over 200 years ago,

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British settlers introduced

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the first dairy
cows to Aotearoa,

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a land mostly covered
in ancient forests

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and inhabited by the
indigenous population of Māori.

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Most of our native forests
were cut or burnt down

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and almost all our
wetlands were destroyed

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to make way for farms.

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Today, we have over
6 million dairy cows

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and we're not doing
this to feed ourselves.

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95% of our dairy
products are exported.

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Kiwi farmers used to be
known for farming sheep,

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but when white gold fever
hit, they switched to cows,

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increasing the
average dairy herd size

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from 100 to over 400.

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- Over the last 30 years,

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we didn't increase
the amount of land.

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We just got rid of sheep
and replaced them with cows

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and they have so
much bigger output.

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- The dairy herd of
Aotearoa produces over

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150 million liters of
nitrogen rich urine every day.

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And each cow has the equivalent

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effluent footprint of 14 people.

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That means the
cows in this country

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create the same amount of waste
as nearly 90 million people.

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And with almost no wetlands
left to filter that waste,

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it's no surprise that our
waterways are in trouble.

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- New Zealand's like
your beautiful friend

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that's just gone and got cancer.

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And so what's the
source of the cancer?

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Well, it's primarily
the dairy industry.

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So there's a particular
New Zealand mode

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of economic development
where we have these bonanzas,

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and the bonanzas are based on

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cashing in our
natural resources.

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The dairy industry
for the last 20 years

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has been a throwback to that

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19th-century style
of development

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where we cash something in.

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And what we've cashed
in is our fresh water.

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- It's simply been impossible
for Kiwis to ignore.

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You used to be able to swim

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in our rivers and
lakes in

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New Zealand without
risk of getting sick.

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That just isn't possible,

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in bulk because of the
impact of industrial dairy.

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Every year, we are losing
192 million tonnes of soil.

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You know, this is
actually our most precious

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resource as a
country, our top soil,

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is simply washing out
to sea every single year

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because of our
land use practices.

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- It's all about destroying
our natural capital,

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which is the exact opposite
of what we should be doing.

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In Te Ao Māori, the
Māori world, water is sacred.

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We pushed for our country
to be the first in the world

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to give a river the same
legal status as a person.

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It worried me to know
how much of an impact

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dairy farming was having
on our fresh water,

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by using it
and by polluting it.

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Just down the road
from my family home

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was an alarming example
of what could go wrong.

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I met with some
community leaders

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who are trying to
protect their lake.

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What did it used to be
like back in the day

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when the lake was healthy?

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- Being by the lake, we
were able to catch fish.

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We just did everything in there.

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And now you

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can't do any of them?

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We can't do any of
that. Not even our children.

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The kids used to come down here

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and they just lived down
here, swimming in the water,

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but the children
had this sickness.

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It wasn't until all that
algae started over here

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that we realized that there
was more to it than that.

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- I've seen farmers spreading

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their manure and it's all
blowing into the lake.

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- Further up the catchment
we found there was a dairy farm

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and they had a
consent to dump effluent.

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And if any nutrients
get into the water,

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and especially around January,

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it's perfect for an incubator

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to actually just
create an algae bloom.

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- You can't have the water
for the children to play in.

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There's no one
coming to the lake.

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- We're talking about other
things like water storage

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for when there's a drought,

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and the drought is heading
our way right now, as I speak.

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And people are gonna want water,

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but what they want is
better water than this.

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- Water is gonna
be the next gold.

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The water is the life force.

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And if we don't
look after the water,

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then all of us will perish.

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- How could Fonterra be claiming
to care about communities

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and environmental
sustainability?

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I had to go call them again
to see if they'd meet with me.

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We got your email
about you guys declining

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to be part of the documentary.

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I just thought if
environmental sustainability

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is at the heart of
what you're doing,

250
00:12:45,067 --> 00:12:47,457
I just think this is a
massively missed opportunity

251
00:12:47,457 --> 00:12:48,987
for you guys to
share your initiatives

252
00:12:48,987 --> 00:12:50,387
with the New Zealand public.
- Yeah.

253
00:12:50,387 --> 00:12:52,867
- Are those topics
that you believe

254
00:12:52,867 --> 00:12:54,567
Fonterra would
like to comment on?

255
00:12:55,527 --> 00:12:57,357
We can comment
on any of them, but I mean,

256
00:12:57,357 --> 00:13:01,333
then you'd end up with a
three hour video just on us.

257
00:13:01,333 --> 00:13:02,857
There's already a lot out there.

258
00:13:02,857 --> 00:13:04,807
- Yeah, but you'd probably admit

259
00:13:04,807 --> 00:13:07,017
that it is a bit confusing
for consumers,

260
00:13:07,017 --> 00:13:09,617
kind of, the messages that
they're getting these days?

261
00:13:09,617 --> 00:13:10,665
Mm-hmm.

262
00:13:11,574 --> 00:13:13,317
Well, we're a big player.

263
00:13:13,317 --> 00:13:15,402
It's a dairy industry thing, if
that's what you're looking at?

264
00:13:15,427 --> 00:13:18,397
Then you're better off
dealing with DairyNZ.

265
00:13:18,397 --> 00:13:20,707
- Yeah, I mean, Fonterra,

266
00:13:20,707 --> 00:13:23,797
Fonterra is New
Zealand's largest company.

267
00:13:23,797 --> 00:13:25,297
Yes.

268
00:13:25,322 --> 00:13:26,409
- So, you know, we thought

269
00:13:26,434 --> 00:13:27,877
it'd be
best if the story's

270
00:13:27,877 --> 00:13:30,447
coming directly from you
guys rather than anyone else.

271
00:13:30,447 --> 00:13:32,257
Yeah, but I
mean, while we're big

272
00:13:32,282 --> 00:13:34,442
we're also part
of a big industry.

273
00:13:38,372 --> 00:13:40,537
What angle are you
taking? How's it gonna work?

274
00:13:40,537 --> 00:13:41,937
Because New
Zealand is pretty simple

275
00:13:41,937 --> 00:13:44,017
in terms of farming practices,

276
00:13:44,017 --> 00:13:46,128
which makes us
more carbon efficient,

277
00:13:46,153 --> 00:13:47,537
the most nutritious
milk in the world.

278
00:13:47,562 --> 00:13:49,372
So is that the
angle you're taking?

279
00:13:50,137 --> 00:13:52,037
- We definitely want
to get you on camera

280
00:13:52,037 --> 00:13:53,227
talking about that,

281
00:13:53,227 --> 00:13:55,567
talking about your side
of the story in terms of

282
00:13:55,567 --> 00:13:57,560
what milk means to New Zealand.

283
00:13:58,436 --> 00:14:00,467
Well, we don't even
need to say it on camera

284
00:14:00,497 --> 00:14:02,497
it's so well documented.

285
00:14:03,897 --> 00:14:05,377
What was going on?

286
00:14:05,377 --> 00:14:07,397
Why were they
avoiding an interview?

287
00:14:07,397 --> 00:14:10,620
I was told to go on the DairyNZ
website to see their facts.

288
00:14:12,387 --> 00:14:15,357
NZ dairy is 64% more
emissions efficient

289
00:14:15,357 --> 00:14:16,557
than the global average.

290
00:14:18,137 --> 00:14:20,517
But I had to wonder where
this information came from,

291
00:14:20,517 --> 00:14:22,597
and wasn't reassured
when I saw it was from

292
00:14:22,597 --> 00:14:24,250
industry-funded research.

293
00:14:26,967 --> 00:14:29,217
It also doesn't include
the huge amount of coal

294
00:14:29,217 --> 00:14:32,980
used to make milk powder,
Fonterra's main export product.

295
00:14:36,267 --> 00:14:37,707
I did find someone
from the industry

296
00:14:37,707 --> 00:14:39,540
who was willing to
talk with me, though,

297
00:14:40,487 --> 00:14:43,237
a rep for the South Island
Dairying Development Center.

298
00:14:45,167 --> 00:14:49,317
- So our vision is to be a
great place for animals to live,

299
00:14:49,317 --> 00:14:52,717
producing high quality
food to feed the world

300
00:14:52,717 --> 00:14:56,507
and having, you know,
a sus- not an impact,

301
00:14:56,507 --> 00:14:59,297
a negative impact on the
environment around us.

302
00:14:59,297 --> 00:15:02,277
So we're all about
transparency at SIDDC.

303
00:15:02,277 --> 00:15:05,247
We try to share all
of our data publicly

304
00:15:05,247 --> 00:15:08,657
and that's why I'm here
speaking to you today.

305
00:15:08,657 --> 00:15:11,967
Canterbury seems to
be quite a very dry region.

306
00:15:11,967 --> 00:15:14,287
Why have we seen
such an increase

307
00:15:14,287 --> 00:15:15,607
in dairy farming in Canterbury,

308
00:15:15,607 --> 00:15:19,040
and do you think it's a suitable
place for dairy farming?

309
00:15:21,877 --> 00:15:24,377
- Can I pass on that question?

310
00:15:25,657 --> 00:15:27,267
- How is synthetic
fertilizer made

311
00:15:27,267 --> 00:15:28,817
and what is it made out of?

312
00:15:28,817 --> 00:15:31,787
- Yeah, I'll pass on
that one.

313
00:15:31,787 --> 00:15:33,297
- Do you think we are putting

314
00:15:33,297 --> 00:15:35,440
our future food
security at risk?

315
00:15:38,112 --> 00:15:40,286
- I don't wanna
answer that. I dunno.

316
00:15:40,286 --> 00:15:44,097
Yeah.

317
00:15:44,097 --> 00:15:46,467
Well, that
was confusing.

318
00:15:46,467 --> 00:15:48,657
And what was even more
confusing was all the media

319
00:15:48,657 --> 00:15:50,930
about the good things
the industry was doing.

320
00:15:52,387 --> 00:15:54,937
Maybe they actually were
heading in the right direction

321
00:15:54,937 --> 00:15:56,670
and things were improving?

322
00:15:57,591 --> 00:15:58,827
- You see, our waterways

323
00:15:58,827 --> 00:16:00,847
are a huge part of who we are.

324
00:16:00,847 --> 00:16:03,917
That's why thousands of Kiwis,
including dairy farmers,

325
00:16:03,917 --> 00:16:06,677
have been working hard
to make a difference.

326
00:16:06,677 --> 00:16:09,127
- The Environment
Aotearoa Report in 2019

327
00:16:09,127 --> 00:16:11,657
said that 82% of waterways

328
00:16:11,657 --> 00:16:13,663
are unswimmable in
farming catchments.

329
00:16:13,688 --> 00:16:14,747
- I think if we look at water,

330
00:16:14,747 --> 00:16:17,487
and we're doing a lot of
investigation at the moment,

331
00:16:17,487 --> 00:16:18,837
the water is not as bad

332
00:16:18,837 --> 00:16:22,407
as perhaps those
stats might indicate.

333
00:16:22,407 --> 00:16:24,077
But why was
government and industry

334
00:16:24,077 --> 00:16:27,977
saying one thing and the
science saying something else?

335
00:16:27,977 --> 00:16:29,387
- What I get really annoyed with

336
00:16:29,387 --> 00:16:31,627
is what I just call the bull

337
00:16:31,627 --> 00:16:35,547
that the dairy industry
seems to enjoy.

338
00:16:35,547 --> 00:16:37,630
It's dishonest.
It's greenwashing.

339
00:16:39,317 --> 00:16:41,807
The issue I've got
is not with farmers.

340
00:16:41,807 --> 00:16:43,337
The issue I've long had,

341
00:16:43,337 --> 00:16:46,809
has been with farming
leadership and the lack thereof.

342
00:16:48,247 --> 00:16:51,487
There's a complete level
of just non-reality

343
00:16:51,487 --> 00:16:54,027
that pervades
the dairy industry.

344
00:16:54,027 --> 00:16:55,967
We have environmental awards

345
00:16:55,967 --> 00:16:58,450
that are sponsored
by fertilizer companies.

346
00:16:59,367 --> 00:17:02,377
- The reality is
that we're not clean.

347
00:17:02,377 --> 00:17:03,506
We might be green,

348
00:17:03,531 --> 00:17:04,538
but it's just because

349
00:17:04,563 --> 00:17:06,307
there's lots of fertilizer
going on the grass,

350
00:17:06,307 --> 00:17:08,076
making it look green.

351
00:17:09,307 --> 00:17:10,897
New
Zealanders really care

352
00:17:10,897 --> 00:17:12,317
about the environment.

353
00:17:12,317 --> 00:17:14,027
Even as one of
the lowest emission

354
00:17:14,027 --> 00:17:15,577
dairy producers in the world,

355
00:17:15,577 --> 00:17:17,647
we continuing to
work on new ways

356
00:17:17,647 --> 00:17:20,577
to reduce our carbon footprint.

357
00:17:20,577 --> 00:17:23,797
Industry greenwashing
was everywhere I looked.

358
00:17:23,797 --> 00:17:25,177
This carbon zero milk

359
00:17:25,177 --> 00:17:28,237
is less than 1% of their
total milk production,

360
00:17:28,237 --> 00:17:30,617
and it's achieved by
buying carbon offsets

361
00:17:30,617 --> 00:17:32,670
instead of actual
emission reduction.

362
00:17:34,027 --> 00:17:36,917
Likewise, with their
plant-based milk bottles,

363
00:17:36,917 --> 00:17:39,497
a container made
from plants, not plastic.

364
00:17:39,497 --> 00:17:42,667
But otherwise,
the same old milk.

365
00:17:42,667 --> 00:17:44,797
- What the farming
groups tend to hear

366
00:17:44,797 --> 00:17:48,907
is so much propaganda
from their own industry

367
00:17:48,907 --> 00:17:52,637
and so little honest reality

368
00:17:52,637 --> 00:17:55,277
that they tend to be shocked
when they first hear it,

369
00:17:55,277 --> 00:17:56,937
and they run back
to the industry

370
00:17:56,937 --> 00:17:59,737
to get the story that suits.

371
00:17:59,737 --> 00:18:03,527
- So it doesn't create the
burning platform for change

372
00:18:03,527 --> 00:18:07,680
that actually the real
facts would demand.

373
00:18:08,742 --> 00:18:09,757
- I searched online

374
00:18:09,757 --> 00:18:12,397
and saw that New Zealand's
biggest greenhouse gas emitter

375
00:18:12,397 --> 00:18:17,267
is Fonterra, with a huge 22
million tons every year.

376
00:18:17,267 --> 00:18:19,657
But if that seems
bad, it gets worse.

377
00:18:19,657 --> 00:18:21,437
I found a report
that shows Fonterra

378
00:18:21,437 --> 00:18:24,637
are massively under-reporting
their emissions.

379
00:18:24,637 --> 00:18:28,177
Instead of the 22 million
tonnes that Fonterra claims

380
00:18:28,177 --> 00:18:32,597
the researchers discovered it
was over 44 million tonnes.

381
00:18:32,597 --> 00:18:34,297
That would mean Fonterra alone

382
00:18:34,297 --> 00:18:37,277
produces more than
the whole of Sweden,

383
00:18:37,277 --> 00:18:40,020
a country with twice the
population of Aotearoa.

384
00:18:41,667 --> 00:18:44,707
I was surprised to find out
that almost all dairy emissions

385
00:18:44,707 --> 00:18:46,938
are from the cows themselves.

386
00:18:46,938 --> 00:18:49,297
Methane comes from
their digestive system

387
00:18:49,297 --> 00:18:51,207
and nitrous oxide
comes from the soil

388
00:18:51,207 --> 00:18:53,730
when effluent and
fertilizers are broken down.

389
00:18:56,147 --> 00:19:00,287
- These animals produce
gas, that's methane,

390
00:19:00,287 --> 00:19:02,897
and that's a very
virulent greenhouse gas.

391
00:19:02,897 --> 00:19:05,247
So CO2, everybody knows about,

392
00:19:05,247 --> 00:19:08,127
everybody knows about the
burning of fossil fuel,

393
00:19:08,127 --> 00:19:11,550
but people are not
talking about the methane.

394
00:19:13,036 --> 00:19:14,060
- Other countries,

395
00:19:14,060 --> 00:19:16,737
you can see the smokestacks
and the pollution pouring out.

396
00:19:16,737 --> 00:19:18,067
We've gotta remember,
in New Zealand,

397
00:19:18,067 --> 00:19:20,897
our farms are our factories.

398
00:19:20,897 --> 00:19:22,697
It turns out
that grass-fed cows

399
00:19:22,697 --> 00:19:25,787
produce more methane
than grain-fed cows.

400
00:19:25,787 --> 00:19:27,847
Methane has a global
warming potential

401
00:19:27,847 --> 00:19:31,097
that's 84 times
stronger than CO2.

402
00:19:31,122 --> 00:19:32,147
And one dairy cow

403
00:19:32,147 --> 00:19:35,060
produces about 500
kilograms of methane.

404
00:19:37,217 --> 00:19:39,097
I wanted to know what
Fonterra's plan was

405
00:19:39,097 --> 00:19:41,527
to reduce these
emissions on farms.

406
00:19:41,527 --> 00:19:44,427
I was astounded to find out
that the Zero Carbon Bill

407
00:19:44,427 --> 00:19:47,757
created an exemption for
methane from farm animals,

408
00:19:47,757 --> 00:19:52,397
with only a 10% reduction
required by 2030.

409
00:19:52,397 --> 00:19:54,267
Despite this super
low threshold,

410
00:19:54,267 --> 00:19:57,247
Fonterra were forecasting
no reduction at all

411
00:19:57,247 --> 00:19:59,387
in emissions from cows.

412
00:19:59,387 --> 00:20:02,016
So much for a climate emergency.

413
00:20:02,016 --> 00:20:03,902
- What do we want?
- Climate justice!

414
00:20:03,902 --> 00:20:06,057
- When do we want it?
- Now!

415
00:20:06,057 --> 00:20:08,007
Along with the
methane produced on farms,

416
00:20:08,007 --> 00:20:11,237
the dairy industry also creates
emissions in other ways,

417
00:20:11,237 --> 00:20:13,927
like using fertilizer
made with fossil fuels

418
00:20:13,927 --> 00:20:17,285
and coal to dehydrate milk.

419
00:20:17,285 --> 00:20:19,817
There's just so
little understanding

420
00:20:19,817 --> 00:20:23,990
of just how much we are
dependent on fossil fuels,

421
00:20:24,867 --> 00:20:26,867
not just for everything we do

422
00:20:26,867 --> 00:20:28,397
and how we transport ourselves,

423
00:20:28,397 --> 00:20:30,330
but in our food as well.

424
00:20:31,552 --> 00:20:33,797
- And the fact that
Fonterra alone is burning

425
00:20:33,797 --> 00:20:37,917
410,000 tonnes of coal
every year to dehydrate milk

426
00:20:37,917 --> 00:20:40,087
gives you a sense
of the industrial scale

427
00:20:40,087 --> 00:20:42,457
we've gone down industrial
agriculture, big time,

428
00:20:42,457 --> 00:20:45,665
and we've got
industrial-sized emissions.

429
00:20:45,665 --> 00:20:46,987
- Climate change is affecting

430
00:20:46,987 --> 00:20:49,737
the world everywhere,
it's happening now.

431
00:20:49,737 --> 00:20:53,047
The ice is melting,
sea levels are rising,

432
00:20:53,047 --> 00:20:55,517
floods and droughts
and hurricanes

433
00:20:55,517 --> 00:20:57,480
are getting worse
and more frequent.

434
00:20:58,637 --> 00:21:01,277
What are the measures
that will be taken

435
00:21:01,277 --> 00:21:03,307
to address that emergency?

436
00:21:03,307 --> 00:21:05,997
Practical measures, things
that will actually happen?

437
00:21:05,997 --> 00:21:07,950
Not things that
we just talk about?

438
00:21:09,257 --> 00:21:11,617
We know we have
to control emissions.

439
00:21:11,617 --> 00:21:15,373
We know we shouldn't
have billions of animals.

440
00:21:21,237 --> 00:21:24,117
Emissions aren't
the only major concern.

441
00:21:24,117 --> 00:21:25,557
If water is the new gold,

442
00:21:25,557 --> 00:21:27,570
we're not investing
it very wisely.

443
00:21:29,627 --> 00:21:30,787
Every year in Aotearoa,

444
00:21:30,787 --> 00:21:34,127
we're using 4.8 billion
cubic meters of water

445
00:21:34,127 --> 00:21:35,277
for the dairy industry.

446
00:21:37,267 --> 00:21:39,297
That's 11 times the water use

447
00:21:39,297 --> 00:21:41,060
of the country's
human population.

448
00:21:43,977 --> 00:21:46,077
- Lots of water is used

449
00:21:46,077 --> 00:21:48,680
to change vegetable
to animal protein.

450
00:21:49,827 --> 00:21:52,277
Dwindling supplies
of fresh water

451
00:21:52,277 --> 00:21:54,060
are important in New Zealand.

452
00:21:55,717 --> 00:21:58,367
- Entire rivers are
drying up in summer now

453
00:21:58,367 --> 00:22:00,344
because big,
irrigating dairy farms,

454
00:22:00,344 --> 00:22:03,137
are taking too much
water from them.

455
00:22:03,137 --> 00:22:05,067
An example
of this crazy high use

456
00:22:05,067 --> 00:22:07,417
is one dairy company
taking more water

457
00:22:07,417 --> 00:22:08,477
from the Waikato River

458
00:22:08,477 --> 00:22:10,187
than the whole
city of all Auckland

459
00:22:10,187 --> 00:22:12,830
with over 1.6 million people.

460
00:22:14,007 --> 00:22:15,967
Regional councils
around Aotearoa

461
00:22:15,967 --> 00:22:18,657
are responsible for
enforcing regulations,

462
00:22:18,657 --> 00:22:21,670
but it seems they aren't quite
doing their job properly.

463
00:22:27,817 --> 00:22:29,787
I heard about someone who
was taking on the fight

464
00:22:29,787 --> 00:22:31,517
for better water monitoring,

465
00:22:31,517 --> 00:22:35,487
a former boxer who gave up his
job to become a river ranger

466
00:22:35,487 --> 00:22:37,807
after discovering the
river he'd swum in as a boy

467
00:22:37,807 --> 00:22:40,130
had been ruined
by dairy effluent.

468
00:22:41,677 --> 00:22:44,180
- My uncle and I, we went
out to our homestead,

469
00:22:45,067 --> 00:22:48,007
we just couldn't believe
how bad the river was.

470
00:22:48,007 --> 00:22:50,867
Full of urine,
excrement from cattle,

471
00:22:50,867 --> 00:22:53,695
and the stench, the
cattle everywhere.

472
00:22:54,171 --> 00:22:57,481
Yeah, and I started to cry, you
know, at the enormity of it.

473
00:22:58,687 --> 00:23:01,710
I understood that day,
it's totally unmonitored.

474
00:23:03,127 --> 00:23:04,710
So at that point
in time in my life,

475
00:23:04,710 --> 00:23:07,857
I just decided to get
myself a boat suitable,

476
00:23:07,857 --> 00:23:11,160
just for rivers, just try
and do some reporting.

477
00:23:12,797 --> 00:23:18,904
DairyNZ and Fonterra say, "Oh,
we're 97.5% fenced off now."

478
00:23:19,167 --> 00:23:22,147
Ah, but is your
fence fit for purpose?

479
00:23:22,147 --> 00:23:24,937
Many farmers raising both
sides of their fence,

480
00:23:24,937 --> 00:23:27,937
so they open their gate and put
the cattle on the riverbank.

481
00:23:30,537 --> 00:23:32,657
One of the river water
quality tests I done

482
00:23:32,657 --> 00:23:34,787
up at the Whangārei
Falls up here,

483
00:23:34,787 --> 00:23:38,170
it was 10 times over the
safe limit for swimming.

484
00:23:39,967 --> 00:23:44,357
- So this water looks nice,
but is that not the case?

485
00:23:44,357 --> 00:23:45,567
- You can't drink it.

486
00:23:45,567 --> 00:23:46,583
You'd have to think twice

487
00:23:46,608 --> 00:23:49,234
about letting your
kids swim in it.

488
00:23:49,234 --> 00:23:51,398
Nitrate is huge. You
know, huge problem.

489
00:23:51,423 --> 00:23:52,450
We can't see it.

490
00:23:52,450 --> 00:23:54,967
It's penetrating through
the ground to the rivers.

491
00:23:54,967 --> 00:23:59,650
Aotearoa has got a problem
with water quality. For sure.

492
00:24:01,927 --> 00:24:03,097
After
talking with Millan,

493
00:24:03,097 --> 00:24:05,327
I wanted to find out why
nitrates seemed to be

494
00:24:05,327 --> 00:24:07,730
one of the biggest
issues for water quality.

495
00:24:08,842 --> 00:24:12,622
- In nature, all plants
need nitrogen to grow,

496
00:24:12,647 --> 00:24:16,037
but nature will provide
it for us if we let it.

497
00:24:16,037 --> 00:24:18,477
Instead, big agribusinesses

498
00:24:18,477 --> 00:24:22,017
like Ravensdown and Agri
Balance here in New Zealand,

499
00:24:22,017 --> 00:24:24,620
sell synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer.

500
00:24:25,827 --> 00:24:28,797
New Zealand holds
the dishonorable title

501
00:24:28,797 --> 00:24:31,247
of having increased
synthetic fertilizer use

502
00:24:31,247 --> 00:24:34,960
more than any other
OECD nation since 1990.

503
00:24:36,794 --> 00:24:39,137
- All through nature
for the 10,000 years

504
00:24:39,137 --> 00:24:40,887
that humans have
been doing agriculture,

505
00:24:40,887 --> 00:24:42,437
it's about natural balances.

506
00:24:42,437 --> 00:24:44,887
What we've done now
is a one way system

507
00:24:44,887 --> 00:24:47,627
where the way we
have so many cows

508
00:24:47,627 --> 00:24:50,917
is we put heaps of synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer on

509
00:24:50,917 --> 00:24:52,687
made from fossil fuels.

510
00:24:52,687 --> 00:24:55,077
We're the biggest importer
of palm kernel in the world.

511
00:24:55,077 --> 00:24:57,777
So we put all of
this stuff on the farm

512
00:24:57,777 --> 00:24:59,947
to have this really
high stocking rate.

513
00:24:59,947 --> 00:25:01,557
We could never
have that stocking rate

514
00:25:01,557 --> 00:25:03,177
without all these inputs.

515
00:25:03,177 --> 00:25:06,327
And so, the more you pour
into a farming system

516
00:25:06,327 --> 00:25:09,047
from the outside, the
more leaks out bottom,

517
00:25:09,047 --> 00:25:10,617
and the leaking out the bottom

518
00:25:10,617 --> 00:25:13,247
we're seeing is the
impacts on our waterways.

519
00:25:13,247 --> 00:25:16,021
If nitrate turned
our rivers red,

520
00:25:16,046 --> 00:25:17,437
you know, we wouldn't
have the problem.

521
00:25:17,437 --> 00:25:18,777
It's only 'cause
people can't see it,

522
00:25:18,802 --> 00:25:20,468
they don't know it's there.

523
00:25:22,692 --> 00:25:25,122
As you get more
nitrate in drinking water,

524
00:25:25,147 --> 00:25:26,794
the chances of getting
colorectal cancer,

525
00:25:26,794 --> 00:25:28,217
and a bunch of other things,

526
00:25:28,217 --> 00:25:30,892
but we'll just talk about the
colorectal cancer for a start,

527
00:25:30,892 --> 00:25:32,225
really increase.

528
00:25:33,629 --> 00:25:35,017
We've got nitrate levels

529
00:25:35,017 --> 00:25:38,570
just ramping up in drinking
water in Canterbury.

530
00:25:39,877 --> 00:25:41,697
- So in Canterbury,
where I'm from,

531
00:25:41,697 --> 00:25:44,517
we have the highest stocking
rates in the country

532
00:25:44,517 --> 00:25:47,757
and the highest rates of the
use of synthetic fertilizer.

533
00:25:47,757 --> 00:25:50,117
We are already
seeing drinking wells

534
00:25:50,117 --> 00:25:52,147
showing up levels
that are associated

535
00:25:52,147 --> 00:25:56,247
with an increased risk
of colorectal cancer.

536
00:25:56,247 --> 00:25:57,677
In rural Canterbury,

537
00:25:57,677 --> 00:26:00,567
pregnant mothers are being
advised by health officials

538
00:26:00,567 --> 00:26:03,697
that they need to get their
private drinking water tested

539
00:26:03,697 --> 00:26:06,927
for fear that it will cause
fatal blue baby syndrome

540
00:26:06,927 --> 00:26:09,707
from increased
nitrate contamination.

541
00:26:09,707 --> 00:26:12,127
It's not just dirty rivers
that we are talking about here.

542
00:26:12,152 --> 00:26:14,720
We're talking about people's
health and well-being.

543
00:26:18,107 --> 00:26:19,927
- I needed to talk with
someone at Fonterra

544
00:26:19,927 --> 00:26:22,427
about everything
I'd learned so far.

545
00:26:22,427 --> 00:26:25,027
I decided the only option
was to just turn up

546
00:26:25,027 --> 00:26:26,277
and see who I could find.

547
00:26:30,537 --> 00:26:32,287
We're working on a documentary.

548
00:26:32,287 --> 00:26:35,277
We're wondering if we could
speak to someone from Fonterra

549
00:26:35,277 --> 00:26:37,147
who can represent the New
Zealand dairy industry

550
00:26:37,147 --> 00:26:38,822
to have a chat with us?
- OK, yeah.

551
00:26:38,822 --> 00:26:41,066
- I'll probably ask
Kayley about that.

552
00:26:41,066 --> 00:26:42,167
- OK.

553
00:26:44,445 --> 00:26:45,700
I wanted someone to front up

554
00:26:45,700 --> 00:26:47,827
and answer the
questions I had for them

555
00:26:47,827 --> 00:26:49,747
that no one else could answer.

556
00:26:49,747 --> 00:26:50,897
- If you can just pop onto our,

557
00:26:50,897 --> 00:26:53,177
- But instead I was asked
to leave another message.

558
00:26:53,177 --> 00:26:55,007
Website or Facebook?

559
00:26:55,007 --> 00:26:57,696
Can't say, I didn't
see that coming.

560
00:26:58,817 --> 00:27:00,987
I'd already called the number
they gave me a few times

561
00:27:00,987 --> 00:27:02,497
and hadn't heard
back from anyone,

562
00:27:02,497 --> 00:27:04,660
but I left one last
message anyway.

563
00:27:05,734 --> 00:27:08,077
"Sustainability and
social responsibility

564
00:27:08,077 --> 00:27:11,624
are a fundamental part of
the way Fonterra operates."

565
00:27:12,599 --> 00:27:13,887
- Dairy's important

566
00:27:13,887 --> 00:27:18,177
for good nutrition, especially
in young growing bodies.

567
00:27:18,177 --> 00:27:20,387
Fonterra milk for
schools helps make sure

568
00:27:20,387 --> 00:27:22,227
primary school
kids in New Zealand

569
00:27:22,227 --> 00:27:24,327
not only get to enjoy our milk,

570
00:27:24,327 --> 00:27:28,494
but also learn about the
nutritional power it has.

571
00:27:29,892 --> 00:27:32,597
With all the claims
to be producing healthy food

572
00:27:32,597 --> 00:27:34,637
I wanted to know if
this was the reality

573
00:27:34,637 --> 00:27:36,197
or just another illusion.

574
00:27:36,197 --> 00:27:38,847
So I contacted some health
professionals to find out.

575
00:27:40,287 --> 00:27:41,967
- It's not beneficial,
not required,

576
00:27:41,967 --> 00:27:43,887
associated with
lots of diseases.

577
00:27:43,887 --> 00:27:45,417
The science is there, it's just,

578
00:27:45,417 --> 00:27:47,617
we need people to catch
up with the science.

579
00:27:49,227 --> 00:27:51,947
So industry often talk
a lot about calcium.

580
00:27:51,947 --> 00:27:54,917
"You gotta drink milk because
it's a good source of calcium,"

581
00:27:54,917 --> 00:27:57,577
but I think they are kind
of moving away from that.

582
00:27:57,577 --> 00:28:01,437
- A lot of those old ideas
they've cunningly backed off.

583
00:28:01,437 --> 00:28:03,507
Unfortunately, of course,
the damage has been done

584
00:28:03,507 --> 00:28:05,667
because that's what a
lot of people, I guess,

585
00:28:05,667 --> 00:28:07,940
even my age learned
when we were kids.

586
00:28:07,965 --> 00:28:10,407
In fact, what we see is
that the countries that eat

587
00:28:10,407 --> 00:28:12,227
the highest amounts of calcium

588
00:28:12,227 --> 00:28:15,077
have the highest rates of hip
fractures and osteoporosis.

589
00:28:17,277 --> 00:28:19,227
A New Zealand
based study clearly shows

590
00:28:19,227 --> 00:28:20,397
there's no evidence that

591
00:28:20,397 --> 00:28:24,297
increasing calcium from dietary
sources prevents fractures.

592
00:28:24,297 --> 00:28:26,447
Yet, that's what most
health professionals

593
00:28:26,447 --> 00:28:27,760
are still telling us.

594
00:28:29,007 --> 00:28:31,167
- I think it would be
very, very beneficial

595
00:28:31,167 --> 00:28:32,257
for society as a whole

596
00:28:32,257 --> 00:28:35,317
if doctors were trained in
nutrition, but they're not.

597
00:28:35,317 --> 00:28:37,707
They get very limited amounts
of nutrition training.

598
00:28:37,707 --> 00:28:41,350
So basically what they teach
is what's popular opinion.

599
00:28:42,497 --> 00:28:43,937
- The main issue is that

600
00:28:43,937 --> 00:28:45,587
the majority of the
world's population

601
00:28:45,587 --> 00:28:48,718
cannot digest
the lactose in milk.

602
00:28:48,718 --> 00:28:50,177
Particularly in Southeast Asia.

603
00:28:50,177 --> 00:28:52,987
And there's good evidence
that in the Pacific and Māori,

604
00:28:52,987 --> 00:28:55,767
there's higher rates
of lactose intolerance,

605
00:28:55,767 --> 00:28:57,497
but also it increases
the amount of mucus

606
00:28:57,497 --> 00:29:00,067
and sinus inflammation
that people get.

607
00:29:00,067 --> 00:29:01,567
Kids are very vulnerable to it.

608
00:29:01,567 --> 00:29:02,887
If they can cut out the dairy,

609
00:29:02,887 --> 00:29:04,737
they can really
respond very quickly.

610
00:29:05,677 --> 00:29:08,057
- We know that there's
numerous issues with dairy.

611
00:29:08,057 --> 00:29:09,377
That is one of the things
that really

612
00:29:09,377 --> 00:29:10,847
annoys me about
the milk in schools.

613
00:29:10,847 --> 00:29:13,367
The implication by
having the milk in there

614
00:29:13,367 --> 00:29:14,957
is that this is
something that's healthy,

615
00:29:14,957 --> 00:29:16,517
that they should be eating.

616
00:29:16,517 --> 00:29:19,360
There's a very good chance that
it's actually hurting them.

617
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:21,517
- Fonterra milk for schools

618
00:29:21,517 --> 00:29:24,887
is one of the best ways we can
look out for our communities,

619
00:29:24,887 --> 00:29:26,687
nurturing the next generation

620
00:29:26,687 --> 00:29:28,960
by sharing the natural
goodness of dairy.

621
00:29:30,317 --> 00:29:34,737
We are Fonterra and
this is Dairy for life.

622
00:29:34,737 --> 00:29:36,777
- They want you
to start off young

623
00:29:36,777 --> 00:29:39,627
and they want to get into the
minds of our youth population

624
00:29:39,627 --> 00:29:41,087
so that once you've got that

625
00:29:41,087 --> 00:29:43,070
person hooked on your product,

626
00:29:43,070 --> 00:29:45,170
they're gonna be
a customer for life.

627
00:29:46,357 --> 00:29:49,177
In the 300,000 year
history of modern humans,

628
00:29:49,177 --> 00:29:51,457
the earliest people drank
milk from other animals

629
00:29:51,457 --> 00:29:54,137
was only 10,000 years ago.

630
00:29:54,137 --> 00:29:57,827
Humans are the only species
that drinks milk after infancy

631
00:29:57,827 --> 00:30:01,227
and the only ones that take
milk from other animals.

632
00:30:01,227 --> 00:30:03,857
Cows were the obvious
choice in most places.

633
00:30:03,857 --> 00:30:05,677
But if our aim was
to get a milk supply

634
00:30:05,677 --> 00:30:07,937
with similar
nutrition to our own,

635
00:30:07,937 --> 00:30:09,757
we could have
gone with zebra milk,

636
00:30:09,757 --> 00:30:12,257
or maybe even chimpanzee milk.

637
00:30:12,257 --> 00:30:13,912
But I guess that's not so easy.

638
00:30:14,668 --> 00:30:16,658
What about dog
milk for convenience

639
00:30:16,683 --> 00:30:18,979
and an extra boost of protein?

640
00:30:19,004 --> 00:30:21,720
Not sure if Fonterra could
sell that idea, though.

641
00:30:23,127 --> 00:30:26,667
And we aren't even meant to
consume high amounts of protein.

642
00:30:26,667 --> 00:30:28,687
Human milk is
perfectly designed for us

643
00:30:28,687 --> 00:30:31,920
and has the lowest protein
amount of any mammal's milk.

644
00:30:33,737 --> 00:30:35,547
Everything
that's contained

645
00:30:35,547 --> 00:30:38,797
in any of these dairy products
or in any animal product,

646
00:30:38,797 --> 00:30:41,247
with the exception of
vitamin B12 of course,

647
00:30:41,247 --> 00:30:42,797
comes from the
plants essentially.

648
00:30:42,797 --> 00:30:45,677
And so by having the
animals eat them first

649
00:30:45,677 --> 00:30:46,857
and then us eating the animals,

650
00:30:46,857 --> 00:30:49,586
it's a very inefficient way of
us getting to that nutrition,

651
00:30:49,611 --> 00:30:50,797
which we could have just got

652
00:30:50,797 --> 00:30:53,017
from the plants
in the first place.

653
00:30:53,017 --> 00:30:57,427
We don't need to filter our
nutrition through animals.

654
00:30:57,427 --> 00:30:58,707
We'd do a lot better going

655
00:30:58,732 --> 00:31:02,251
straight to the source of
nutrition in the first instance.

656
00:31:04,617 --> 00:31:07,137
It makes sense that
we can skip the middle cow

657
00:31:07,137 --> 00:31:09,377
like our early ancestors did.

658
00:31:09,377 --> 00:31:12,877
And it turns out we also filter
other things through cows

659
00:31:12,877 --> 00:31:14,990
like antibiotics and hormones.

660
00:31:16,067 --> 00:31:18,637
- They're routinely
fed antibiotics.

661
00:31:18,637 --> 00:31:21,087
The bacteria build up resistance

662
00:31:21,087 --> 00:31:24,707
and people have already
died from a small cut,

663
00:31:24,707 --> 00:31:26,607
which becomes infected,

664
00:31:26,607 --> 00:31:28,583
and there just
isn't an antibiotic

665
00:31:28,607 --> 00:31:30,537
strong enough to cure it.

666
00:31:30,537 --> 00:31:33,267
It's one of the big
fears in medicine

667
00:31:33,267 --> 00:31:35,507
that we're gradually reducing

668
00:31:35,507 --> 00:31:37,990
the number of antibiotics
that can be effective.

669
00:31:39,797 --> 00:31:42,447
Antibiotics are
often used for mastitis,

670
00:31:42,447 --> 00:31:45,217
a common and painful
inflammation of the udder

671
00:31:45,217 --> 00:31:48,167
that causes white blood
cells to leach into milk.

672
00:31:48,167 --> 00:31:51,737
A liter of milk can have up
to 400 million of these cells

673
00:31:51,737 --> 00:31:54,937
before it's considered
unfit for people to drink.

674
00:31:54,937 --> 00:31:57,187
- Given that it's got these
kinds of things in there,

675
00:31:57,187 --> 00:31:59,127
is that really something
you wanna be consuming

676
00:31:59,127 --> 00:32:00,220
from another animal?

677
00:32:01,327 --> 00:32:02,617
The processing that they have

678
00:32:02,617 --> 00:32:05,207
is because it's a dirty
product, you know?

679
00:32:05,207 --> 00:32:08,737
It's got a lot of stuff in
there that can make you sick.

680
00:32:08,737 --> 00:32:11,217
Everyone knows what it
smells like after it's been,

681
00:32:11,217 --> 00:32:13,317
you know, left out
for a day or two.

682
00:32:13,317 --> 00:32:14,340
It's nasty.

683
00:32:15,217 --> 00:32:17,487
- This is not a food
that was ever designed

684
00:32:17,487 --> 00:32:19,077
to be inside a human being.

685
00:32:19,077 --> 00:32:21,647
'Cause you've got these
cows, they're pregnant,

686
00:32:21,647 --> 00:32:23,137
they're lactating
at the same time

687
00:32:23,137 --> 00:32:26,317
so the female
hormones in a dairy cow

688
00:32:26,317 --> 00:32:27,717
are really, really high.

689
00:32:27,717 --> 00:32:29,067
And so you've got
things like estrogen,

690
00:32:29,067 --> 00:32:31,057
which is in the milk.

691
00:32:31,057 --> 00:32:33,527
What this also does is it will

692
00:32:33,527 --> 00:32:35,820
grow cells that are
abnormal really quickly.

693
00:32:37,337 --> 00:32:39,407
- That's probably one
of the reasons why

694
00:32:39,407 --> 00:32:42,257
it is associated with
hormone sensitive cancers.

695
00:32:42,257 --> 00:32:45,307
So that's your prostate
cancer, breast cancer.

696
00:32:45,307 --> 00:32:47,927
- Definitely a very strong
link with prostate cancer,

697
00:32:47,927 --> 00:32:49,407
possibly even
stronger than there is

698
00:32:49,407 --> 00:32:51,357
with smoking and lung cancer.

699
00:32:51,357 --> 00:32:53,667
It's full of stuff that
blows up a small calf

700
00:32:53,667 --> 00:32:58,287
into a huge cow within,
you know, a year or so.

701
00:32:58,287 --> 00:32:59,507
One study
found that even

702
00:32:59,507 --> 00:33:01,527
moderate of dairy
milk consumption

703
00:33:01,527 --> 00:33:05,787
can increase women's risk
of breast cancer up to 80%.

704
00:33:05,787 --> 00:33:07,467
And yet this isn't
even mentioned

705
00:33:07,467 --> 00:33:10,367
on our national Breast
Cancer Foundation website

706
00:33:10,367 --> 00:33:12,617
who are still promoting
dairy products,

707
00:33:12,617 --> 00:33:14,767
saying they're
important for bone health,

708
00:33:14,767 --> 00:33:17,497
that same old idea.

709
00:33:17,497 --> 00:33:20,137
- People need to be informed
of what they're buying

710
00:33:20,137 --> 00:33:21,607
and the risks of it.

711
00:33:21,607 --> 00:33:23,757
- Why would you promote
anything that's been associated

712
00:33:23,757 --> 00:33:25,535
with any kind of cancer?

713
00:33:30,907 --> 00:33:33,927
- These conversations made
me think of my own family

714
00:33:33,927 --> 00:33:35,730
and the loved ones I've lost.

715
00:33:37,247 --> 00:33:40,877
Māori men are 70% more likely
to die from prostate cancer

716
00:33:40,877 --> 00:33:42,287
than non-Māori.

717
00:33:42,287 --> 00:33:43,347
And if the link between

718
00:33:43,347 --> 00:33:46,687
dairy consumption and prostate
cancer was common knowledge,

719
00:33:46,687 --> 00:33:49,140
maybe I could have
met my grandfather.

720
00:33:51,947 --> 00:33:53,277
The more I thought about it,

721
00:33:53,277 --> 00:33:56,354
the stranger it seemed that
we even consume dairy at all.

722
00:33:58,137 --> 00:34:00,477
Māori have historically
been some of the tallest,

723
00:34:00,477 --> 00:34:02,977
strongest, fittest
people on the planet

724
00:34:02,977 --> 00:34:05,837
and we didn't have dairy
until Europeans showed up.

725
00:34:05,837 --> 00:34:08,140
So we obviously don't
need it to be healthy.

726
00:34:11,427 --> 00:34:14,217
Dairy being marketed
to us as a health food

727
00:34:14,217 --> 00:34:15,590
ignores our history.

728
00:34:18,257 --> 00:34:22,097
Chronic disease was almost
unheard of before colonization,

729
00:34:22,097 --> 00:34:23,797
but now, with one of the highest

730
00:34:23,797 --> 00:34:26,317
dairy consumption
rates in the world,

731
00:34:26,317 --> 00:34:28,977
Māori suffer from higher
rates of diabetes,

732
00:34:28,977 --> 00:34:31,144
heart disease and cancers.

733
00:34:39,637 --> 00:34:40,810
Hello, Chris speaking.

734
00:34:40,835 --> 00:34:41,950
Chris. Hi.

735
00:34:41,950 --> 00:34:44,077
This is Philippa from
Fonterra. How are you?

736
00:34:44,077 --> 00:34:45,647
- Philippa? Hi, yeah,
I'm good, thanks.

737
00:34:45,647 --> 00:34:47,567
We are really hoping
to get someone

738
00:34:47,567 --> 00:34:49,467
from Fonterra to talk to us.

739
00:34:49,467 --> 00:34:50,947
Does that sound like --
- Mm-hmm.

740
00:34:50,947 --> 00:34:52,897
- something you'd be
able to help us with?

741
00:34:52,897 --> 00:34:54,578
New
Zealand's dairy industry

742
00:34:54,578 --> 00:34:56,627
is the most
sustainable in the world.

743
00:34:56,627 --> 00:35:00,137
And actually the
farming practices here

744
00:35:00,137 --> 00:35:02,437
are the least
emissions efficient,

745
00:35:02,437 --> 00:35:04,116
sorry, the most
emissions efficient

746
00:35:04,141 --> 00:35:06,788
out of
any in the world.

747
00:35:06,813 --> 00:35:08,167
- But what we are
noticing as well

748
00:35:08,167 --> 00:35:10,667
is what's happening
to our waterways.

749
00:35:10,667 --> 00:35:12,257
What's happening
to that footprint

750
00:35:12,257 --> 00:35:14,870
of greenhouse gas emissions
coming out of the sector.

751
00:35:16,847 --> 00:35:20,377
I was asked to email them
again with the same information

752
00:35:20,377 --> 00:35:22,237
and realized that
to get some honesty,

753
00:35:22,237 --> 00:35:24,420
I had to find farmers
to talk with instead.

754
00:35:25,327 --> 00:35:27,447
I was surprised
with what I found out

755
00:35:27,447 --> 00:35:28,750
about life on the farm.

756
00:35:31,287 --> 00:35:34,297
- The family's been farming
here for 95-odd years,

757
00:35:34,297 --> 00:35:37,597
and we've always
dairy farmed here.

758
00:35:37,597 --> 00:35:41,267
I was born here and yeah,
I'll probably die here.

759
00:35:41,267 --> 00:35:44,392
Hopefully. But not too soon!

760
00:35:44,707 --> 00:35:46,007
We work seven days a week.

761
00:35:46,007 --> 00:35:49,027
We're up at 3:30,
4:00 in the morning,

762
00:35:49,027 --> 00:35:51,327
home by six o'clock,
maybe at night,

763
00:35:51,327 --> 00:35:52,477
worse in the spring.

764
00:35:52,477 --> 00:35:53,867
Lucky if you get
a bit of breakfast

765
00:35:53,867 --> 00:35:56,367
in the morning, some days,
you know, it's full on.

766
00:35:57,217 --> 00:36:01,067
And with all the
other, you know,

767
00:36:01,067 --> 00:36:05,628
everything coming at
you from all sides, nah,

768
00:36:05,628 --> 00:36:10,628
the motivation to be continuing
to dairy farm is gone.

769
00:36:12,726 --> 00:36:15,877
If people aren't appreciative
of what you're doing,

770
00:36:15,877 --> 00:36:18,567
then that motivation
disappears pretty quick.

771
00:36:18,567 --> 00:36:21,957
And then, you don't see a vat
full of milk to feed people.

772
00:36:21,957 --> 00:36:23,790
You see a vat full of money.

773
00:36:26,927 --> 00:36:28,930
Now talk about sustainability.

774
00:36:29,857 --> 00:36:34,920
No one considers the
sustainability to the farmers,

775
00:36:35,759 --> 00:36:38,090
the sustainability of human,

776
00:36:39,392 --> 00:36:44,093
um, life, because a farmer,

777
00:36:44,118 --> 00:36:46,806
it's not sustainable if farmers
are all hanging themselves

778
00:36:46,806 --> 00:36:48,747
left, right and center, or,

779
00:36:48,747 --> 00:36:52,517
or sort of letting your farm
go to wrack and ruin because

780
00:36:53,637 --> 00:36:56,537
they just have lost the
plot and don't care anymore.

781
00:36:56,537 --> 00:36:57,947
And that's happening.

782
00:36:57,947 --> 00:36:59,830
It's a reality I
know is happening

783
00:36:59,830 --> 00:37:03,240
and that's gotta be a crucial
part of sustainability.

784
00:37:05,007 --> 00:37:06,277
And that's why I feel

785
00:37:06,277 --> 00:37:09,267
if dairying's getting
too much for people,

786
00:37:09,267 --> 00:37:13,785
then perhaps dairying's not
the game you should be in.

787
00:37:22,477 --> 00:37:24,897
- Another farmer was willing
to talk about his experience

788
00:37:24,897 --> 00:37:28,347
with the bacterial
disease, mycoplasma bovis.

789
00:37:28,347 --> 00:37:30,007
The Ministry for
Primary Industries

790
00:37:30,007 --> 00:37:33,080
is attempting to
eradicate it, at any cost.

791
00:37:34,057 --> 00:37:37,107
- If MPI finds one
of your animals

792
00:37:38,006 --> 00:37:40,077
with the disease of
mycoplasma bovis,

793
00:37:40,077 --> 00:37:42,457
they kill everything,
everything.

794
00:37:42,457 --> 00:37:44,857
I've had 34 years
in this industry

795
00:37:44,857 --> 00:37:48,777
and I go during middle of
the night to check on my cows

796
00:37:48,777 --> 00:37:51,517
to make sure that the birth
process is going all right,

797
00:37:51,517 --> 00:37:52,947
and if there's a
calf that's not well

798
00:37:52,947 --> 00:37:55,486
you get it inside
and nurture it.

799
00:37:55,486 --> 00:37:57,747
And then all of a sudden

800
00:37:57,747 --> 00:37:59,797
you're being told you
have to kill these calves.

801
00:37:59,797 --> 00:38:06,466
And, oh that, I think that
particularly afterwards

802
00:38:06,507 --> 00:38:08,450
it was very traumatizing.

803
00:38:09,610 --> 00:38:11,650
And I'm still not
over it, actually.

804
00:38:12,807 --> 00:38:14,947
So how many
days did this take?

805
00:38:14,947 --> 00:38:16,477
You killing the calves?

806
00:38:16,477 --> 00:38:18,450
Probably 80, 90 days.

807
00:38:19,234 --> 00:38:20,462
How many calves do you

808
00:38:20,487 --> 00:38:21,797
think you were killing per day?

809
00:38:21,797 --> 00:38:24,940
- Some days might be one and
some days might be six, seven.

810
00:38:26,657 --> 00:38:28,287
We had another farm as well

811
00:38:28,287 --> 00:38:31,397
affected with mycoplasma bovis
and the farm manager there,

812
00:38:31,397 --> 00:38:33,284
he had to kill the
calves on the farm there

813
00:38:33,284 --> 00:38:35,610
and he was calving
more cows than I was.

814
00:38:37,127 --> 00:38:38,913
Couldn't hack it
anymore in the end

815
00:38:38,913 --> 00:38:41,060
and he tried to commit suicide.

816
00:38:42,390 --> 00:38:44,573
And, my son...

817
00:38:46,347 --> 00:38:49,206
My son found him and got him out

818
00:38:49,206 --> 00:38:51,230
and now he's left New Zealand.

819
00:38:51,230 --> 00:38:53,797
He's gone.
Twenty-three-year-old.

820
00:38:53,797 --> 00:38:56,949
Fucked his life. For this.

821
00:39:08,657 --> 00:39:09,757
- Email from Fonterra.

822
00:39:10,863 --> 00:39:11,977
"Morning, Chris,

823
00:39:11,977 --> 00:39:15,297
thanks for the opportunity,
again, to be part of your video.

824
00:39:15,297 --> 00:39:16,807
We currently have
other opportunities

825
00:39:16,807 --> 00:39:18,497
for our sustainability program

826
00:39:18,497 --> 00:39:20,967
and have decided that we
won't be participating

827
00:39:20,967 --> 00:39:22,294
in your documentary."

828
00:39:23,917 --> 00:39:26,817
Surely if sustainability
is important for Fonterra,

829
00:39:26,817 --> 00:39:28,327
then they can make time

830
00:39:28,327 --> 00:39:30,877
for a short interview with
us about sustainability?

831
00:39:34,587 --> 00:39:37,307
I decided to give up trying
to get answers from them.

832
00:39:37,307 --> 00:39:38,927
Since they'd refused to talk,

833
00:39:38,927 --> 00:39:40,752
I'd have to keep finding
people who would.

834
00:39:40,777 --> 00:39:42,496
There seemed to be

835
00:39:42,496 --> 00:39:44,937
a lot in the media about
regenerative agriculture

836
00:39:44,937 --> 00:39:47,987
being the climate change
solution everyone's hoping for,

837
00:39:47,987 --> 00:39:50,860
and how healthy soil can
actually store carbon.

838
00:39:52,227 --> 00:39:54,167
- Carbon
sequestration in the soil

839
00:39:54,167 --> 00:39:58,967
is a really valuable,
easy, cheap, you know,

840
00:39:58,967 --> 00:40:01,657
immediate tool that
we can start employing

841
00:40:01,657 --> 00:40:03,777
in greenhouse gas emissions.

842
00:40:03,777 --> 00:40:07,077
Farmers are not only on
the front lines of change,

843
00:40:07,077 --> 00:40:09,407
but they also represent
our best opportunity

844
00:40:09,432 --> 00:40:11,712
to combat things
like climate change.

845
00:40:12,071 --> 00:40:13,427
They're the heroes of the story.

846
00:40:13,427 --> 00:40:15,197
- That sounded impressive.

847
00:40:15,197 --> 00:40:16,837
But then I found a major

848
00:40:16,837 --> 00:40:19,227
international report
that disagrees.

849
00:40:19,227 --> 00:40:22,827
It shows that any carbon
sequestration from grazing cows

850
00:40:22,827 --> 00:40:25,217
is substantially outweighed

851
00:40:25,217 --> 00:40:28,307
by the greenhouse gas
emissions they generate.

852
00:40:28,307 --> 00:40:30,017
It turns out that
selling that idea

853
00:40:30,017 --> 00:40:33,540
as a climate change solution
is just serving up false hope.

854
00:40:36,387 --> 00:40:38,537
- There are too many
cows on this planet

855
00:40:38,537 --> 00:40:41,397
and we can't keep farming them,

856
00:40:41,397 --> 00:40:43,747
even if every single one of
them is farmed regeneratively.

857
00:40:43,747 --> 00:40:45,014
We cannot be having
these land uses

858
00:40:45,014 --> 00:40:47,477
which are all about
producing milk,

859
00:40:47,477 --> 00:40:49,167
or all about producing meat.

860
00:40:49,167 --> 00:40:51,787
We have to diversify into
plant-based production.

861
00:40:51,787 --> 00:40:53,687
That's what the
science is telling us.

862
00:40:54,977 --> 00:40:56,777
- Even plant-based
foods transported

863
00:40:56,777 --> 00:40:58,377
from the other side of the world

864
00:40:58,377 --> 00:41:01,040
are more carbon efficient
than animal products.

865
00:41:01,877 --> 00:41:04,577
And I was surprised to see
that one kilogram of cheese

866
00:41:04,577 --> 00:41:08,287
creates a staggering
21 kilos of emissions,

867
00:41:08,287 --> 00:41:10,657
compared with about
one kilo of emissions

868
00:41:10,657 --> 00:41:13,040
from most vegetables
and other plant foods.

869
00:41:14,926 --> 00:41:17,297
I also discovered there's
a secret ingredient

870
00:41:17,297 --> 00:41:20,177
the industry uses that
boosts milk production,

871
00:41:20,177 --> 00:41:23,410
causing even more devastation.

872
00:41:24,657 --> 00:41:28,934
- Fonterra is selling New
Zealand's milk as grass fed,

873
00:41:29,597 --> 00:41:32,617
seeming to forget that
we're actually importing

874
00:41:32,617 --> 00:41:34,997
two and a half million
tonnes of palm kernel

875
00:41:34,997 --> 00:41:37,000
to feed those cows.

876
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,917
Fonterra's key supplier of PKE

877
00:41:39,917 --> 00:41:41,994
is linked to ongoing
deforestation

878
00:41:42,018 --> 00:41:43,687
of tropical rainforest

879
00:41:43,687 --> 00:41:45,707
and human rights abuses.

880
00:41:45,707 --> 00:41:47,907
It's massively
destroying habitat

881
00:41:47,907 --> 00:41:50,904
for endangered species
like the orangutan

882
00:41:52,009 --> 00:41:53,937
We are farming so many
cows in New Zealand

883
00:41:53,937 --> 00:41:55,457
that we completely surpassed

884
00:41:55,457 --> 00:41:57,727
any kind of
environmental limits here.

885
00:41:57,727 --> 00:41:59,937
We're actually cutting
down forest in Indonesia

886
00:41:59,937 --> 00:42:02,037
to feed a bloated dairy herd

887
00:42:02,037 --> 00:42:04,617
that is trashing our
environment here,

888
00:42:04,617 --> 00:42:09,297
but also indebting dairy
farmers who are holding around,

889
00:42:09,297 --> 00:42:12,537
collectively, $38
billion worth of debt.

890
00:42:12,537 --> 00:42:14,849
This industry is not
working for anyone.

891
00:42:16,721 --> 00:42:17,820
It didn't make sense

892
00:42:17,820 --> 00:42:20,377
how farmers could
be in so much debt.

893
00:42:20,377 --> 00:42:22,107
Why had this happened?

894
00:42:22,107 --> 00:42:24,480
And was Fonterra also
in financial trouble?

895
00:42:25,417 --> 00:42:27,197
- In the last 20 years,

896
00:42:27,197 --> 00:42:31,867
farmers have borrowed
over 30 billion extra.

897
00:42:31,867 --> 00:42:34,057
Dairy debt has gone up from,

898
00:42:34,057 --> 00:42:37,207
in 2000 it was about 10 billion.

899
00:42:37,207 --> 00:42:38,927
It's now 40 billion.

900
00:42:40,307 --> 00:42:45,027
That's a 400% increase in debt.

901
00:42:45,027 --> 00:42:47,577
- We now have so many
people in New Zealand

902
00:42:47,577 --> 00:42:51,587
struggling under so much
debt, irresponsible debt,

903
00:42:51,587 --> 00:42:52,977
that was given out just because

904
00:42:52,977 --> 00:42:55,337
the dairy industry
has so much clout,

905
00:42:55,337 --> 00:42:56,967
and they're now in
a financial position

906
00:42:56,967 --> 00:42:58,667
that they don't
know where to go,

907
00:42:58,667 --> 00:43:01,667
because how do you get out from
millions of dollars of debt?

908
00:43:02,937 --> 00:43:04,907
- Definitely, that
was a direction

909
00:43:04,907 --> 00:43:07,527
Fonterra went in a few years ago

910
00:43:07,527 --> 00:43:09,447
when they were
pushing for volume

911
00:43:09,472 --> 00:43:15,326
that wasn't to everyone's
agreement, definitely.

912
00:43:15,367 --> 00:43:19,240
And looking back it's
like, "Wow, we were duped."

913
00:43:19,240 --> 00:43:22,197
"How did they pull that one over
our bloody eyes," you know?

914
00:43:23,947 --> 00:43:27,667
- We know that it's not
economically problematic

915
00:43:27,667 --> 00:43:30,587
for dairy farmers to
reduce stocking rates,

916
00:43:30,587 --> 00:43:34,097
but for Fonterra
the opposite is true.

917
00:43:34,097 --> 00:43:38,857
They have built a lot of milk
dehydrators around the country

918
00:43:38,857 --> 00:43:43,437
that require a large
volume of milk.

919
00:43:43,437 --> 00:43:47,567
So what works financially
for the fancy Fonterra HQ

920
00:43:47,567 --> 00:43:49,547
in Fanshawe Street, Auckland,

921
00:43:49,547 --> 00:43:52,642
does not necessarily work for
New Zealand's dairy farmers.

922
00:43:53,746 --> 00:43:55,139
- When I was working
for government,

923
00:43:55,164 --> 00:43:59,322
I got an incredibly detailed
insight into Fonterra,

924
00:43:59,347 --> 00:44:01,947
deep down into the
bowels of the company.

925
00:44:01,947 --> 00:44:05,257
The Fonterra dream is
over. It's long since gone.

926
00:44:05,257 --> 00:44:09,367
The conversation for today is,
will Fonterra even survive?

927
00:44:09,367 --> 00:44:11,517
'Cause its numbers are that bad.

928
00:44:11,517 --> 00:44:14,117
If some really smart
person in a white coat

929
00:44:14,117 --> 00:44:17,887
comes up with a
dairy alternative,

930
00:44:17,887 --> 00:44:19,497
but is a quarter of the cost

931
00:44:19,497 --> 00:44:21,527
and doesn't have the
environmental impact,

932
00:44:21,527 --> 00:44:24,190
then I'm sorry
dairy, you're toast.

933
00:44:26,663 --> 00:44:27,820
I couldn't believe

934
00:44:27,820 --> 00:44:30,312
that our dairy industry
could be that fragile.

935
00:44:30,337 --> 00:44:31,458
Isn't it meant to be

936
00:44:31,458 --> 00:44:33,140
the backbone of our economy?

937
00:44:34,087 --> 00:44:36,927
Could a cheaper and more
sustainable dairy alternative

938
00:44:36,927 --> 00:44:38,980
really wipe it out completely?

939
00:44:40,647 --> 00:44:42,697
And I had to wonder
why we're still using

940
00:44:42,697 --> 00:44:44,127
so much land for dairy

941
00:44:44,127 --> 00:44:47,250
when we could get more profit
from growing plants instead?

942
00:44:48,537 --> 00:44:50,687
A government funded
report shows that Aotearoa

943
00:44:50,687 --> 00:44:53,967
has a huge amount of land
suitable for growing crops

944
00:44:53,967 --> 00:44:57,527
and potential for $80 billion
from plant-based crops

945
00:44:57,527 --> 00:45:01,529
compared with only $28 billion
from animal agriculture.

946
00:45:04,257 --> 00:45:06,817
I met with the dairy spokesman
for Federated Farmers

947
00:45:06,817 --> 00:45:09,217
to find out what he thought
about transitioning.

948
00:45:10,276 --> 00:45:11,623
Do you think there
are some dairy farmers

949
00:45:11,648 --> 00:45:13,742
that will stick with
dairy no matter what?

950
00:45:13,767 --> 00:45:14,887
- We all just wanna
make a dollar.

951
00:45:14,887 --> 00:45:18,287
And if it's a better returns
growing some alternative foods,

952
00:45:18,287 --> 00:45:19,350
show us some money.

953
00:45:20,626 --> 00:45:21,987
I think some farmers
would be quite happy

954
00:45:21,987 --> 00:45:23,617
to hang up the
apron and grow crops

955
00:45:23,617 --> 00:45:25,595
if that was a better
return on investment.

956
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:28,137
I don't mind changing.

957
00:45:28,137 --> 00:45:31,137
If I can provide a better future
for my family, I'll change.

958
00:45:32,017 --> 00:45:34,897
I'll stop milking those
cows and I'll jump ship.

959
00:45:34,897 --> 00:45:36,460
It's that simple really, innit?

960
00:45:39,017 --> 00:45:40,437
But it might
already be too late

961
00:45:40,437 --> 00:45:42,890
for some farmers to take
up new opportunities.

962
00:45:44,857 --> 00:45:47,467
One research project looked
into using dairy land

963
00:45:47,467 --> 00:45:51,437
to make oat milk, which
uses 13 times less water,

964
00:45:51,437 --> 00:45:53,317
11 times less land,

965
00:45:53,317 --> 00:45:55,344
and creates 3.5 times less

966
00:45:55,368 --> 00:45:57,430
carbon emissions
than cow's milk.

967
00:45:58,789 --> 00:46:01,517
- It was way more
protein per hectare,

968
00:46:01,517 --> 00:46:03,257
way more energy efficient.

969
00:46:03,257 --> 00:46:05,262
Everything that
you could measure

970
00:46:05,287 --> 00:46:08,927
was so much more efficient
without the cows.

971
00:46:08,927 --> 00:46:11,365
It was a fantastic
example of where

972
00:46:11,390 --> 00:46:14,147
you would be much better off
not having the animals there

973
00:46:14,147 --> 00:46:16,208
and you could make this
really good product.

974
00:46:17,107 --> 00:46:19,817
The thing that you need to make
plant-based milk of course,

975
00:46:19,817 --> 00:46:21,063
is nice clean water.

976
00:46:21,088 --> 00:46:22,217
And when they started looking

977
00:46:22,217 --> 00:46:24,387
at the groundwater
in the vicinity,

978
00:46:24,387 --> 00:46:26,497
in some of those bores,

979
00:46:26,497 --> 00:46:29,267
there was five or six times
the World Health Organization

980
00:46:29,267 --> 00:46:30,931
limit for nitrate in that water.

981
00:46:30,956 --> 00:46:32,353
So you just wouldn't
be able to make

982
00:46:32,378 --> 00:46:34,822
the milk out of it. It's
just a classic example of

983
00:46:34,847 --> 00:46:37,227
here's a good option of
how we could do it better,

984
00:46:37,227 --> 00:46:39,407
but we've already shut
the gate on that option

985
00:46:39,407 --> 00:46:41,157
because we've already
polluted the water

986
00:46:41,182 --> 00:46:43,155
past limits where
you could use it.

987
00:46:44,249 --> 00:46:45,249
- So we have current

988
00:46:45,249 --> 00:46:48,671
farming models that are
potentially harming our future?

989
00:46:48,696 --> 00:46:49,707
Yep.

990
00:46:49,707 --> 00:46:52,287
When you pollute the water
and you pollute the soil,

991
00:46:52,287 --> 00:46:55,000
it really limits your
options for the future.

992
00:46:56,247 --> 00:46:57,917
So if the true costs
were being paid,

993
00:46:57,917 --> 00:47:00,317
then we wouldn't be doing
dairy in this country.

994
00:47:03,077 --> 00:47:04,287
An
example of this cost

995
00:47:04,287 --> 00:47:08,967
is Aotearoa taxpayers giving
dairy farmers $130 million

996
00:47:08,967 --> 00:47:11,867
not to farm in the Taupō
and Rotorua Lake areas

997
00:47:11,867 --> 00:47:14,620
to reduce the water
contamination from nitrates.

998
00:47:15,457 --> 00:47:18,847
If we paid all our dairy
farmers to stop polluting water,

999
00:47:18,847 --> 00:47:21,701
that would cost
over $20 billion.

1000
00:47:22,487 --> 00:47:25,017
- As a businessperson,
and you had to pay that,

1001
00:47:25,017 --> 00:47:26,783
you would go, "Right, we
stop doing it, you know,

1002
00:47:26,808 --> 00:47:27,887
because there's
no money in this,

1003
00:47:27,887 --> 00:47:29,527
it's gonna cost us to do it."

1004
00:47:29,527 --> 00:47:30,777
It's only because the cost

1005
00:47:30,777 --> 00:47:33,050
is being passed
on to the rest of us.

1006
00:47:33,997 --> 00:47:35,997
- This is an industry
making profits

1007
00:47:35,997 --> 00:47:37,557
off of the destruction
of our environment,

1008
00:47:37,557 --> 00:47:39,637
and it is us, everyday
New Zealanders,

1009
00:47:39,637 --> 00:47:41,764
who are going to,
and are already,

1010
00:47:41,764 --> 00:47:43,747
paying the price for that.

1011
00:47:43,747 --> 00:47:46,007
And there are very
powerful companies

1012
00:47:46,007 --> 00:47:47,477
that want to keep it that way,

1013
00:47:47,477 --> 00:47:49,897
despite the costs
to New Zealand.

1014
00:47:52,107 --> 00:47:54,087
I did some more
investigating and found out

1015
00:47:54,087 --> 00:47:56,147
even the country's
nutrition guidelines

1016
00:47:56,147 --> 00:47:58,010
are influenced by
the dairy industry.

1017
00:47:58,987 --> 00:48:01,237
Consultation with
key stakeholders

1018
00:48:01,237 --> 00:48:03,777
meant that Fonterra had a say,

1019
00:48:03,777 --> 00:48:07,417
and three out of the four
issues they raised were changed,

1020
00:48:07,417 --> 00:48:11,697
including the removal
of milk alternatives.

1021
00:48:11,697 --> 00:48:14,327
I'd heard some strong
reactions to dairy alternatives

1022
00:48:14,327 --> 00:48:17,467
from industry representatives
and politicians also,

1023
00:48:17,467 --> 00:48:20,397
trying to stop any
possible threat.

1024
00:48:20,397 --> 00:48:25,277
This notion that
veganism and almond powder

1025
00:48:25,277 --> 00:48:27,497
or something akin to
that is gonna replace

1026
00:48:27,497 --> 00:48:30,587
genuine red meat,
genuine dairy milk,

1027
00:48:30,587 --> 00:48:32,427
it needs to be
stopped in its tracks.

1028
00:48:32,427 --> 00:48:33,707
We should not tolerate.

1029
00:48:33,707 --> 00:48:37,107
We should not
acquiesce for one inch

1030
00:48:37,107 --> 00:48:39,020
of the political journey
with these people

1031
00:48:39,045 --> 00:48:40,047
who are continuing to

1032
00:48:40,047 --> 00:48:42,920
stigmatize and demonize
our legacy industry.

1033
00:48:43,154 --> 00:48:45,227
- If it's not a milk, if it's
a nut juice or something else,

1034
00:48:45,227 --> 00:48:48,237
just call it for what it is
and create your own brand

1035
00:48:48,237 --> 00:48:49,625
and create your own
marketing strategy

1036
00:48:49,650 --> 00:48:50,687
and leverage off that.

1037
00:48:50,687 --> 00:48:52,375
Don't leverage off
the dairy industry.

1038
00:48:53,797 --> 00:48:55,457
Then, a
well-respected magazine

1039
00:48:55,457 --> 00:48:57,540
came out with this on the cover.

1040
00:48:58,967 --> 00:49:00,467
After reading about
all the so-called

1041
00:49:00,467 --> 00:49:01,967
benefits of meat and dairy,

1042
00:49:01,967 --> 00:49:04,387
I looked online and found
that the featured scientists

1043
00:49:04,387 --> 00:49:06,807
were from the Riddet Institute,

1044
00:49:06,807 --> 00:49:09,447
which has close ties with
meat and dairy companies,

1045
00:49:09,447 --> 00:49:10,850
including Fonterra.

1046
00:49:13,570 --> 00:49:16,327
What's it gonna take to
change these organizations?

1047
00:49:16,327 --> 00:49:19,487
- Probably one thing is
not to be funded by dairy.

1048
00:49:19,487 --> 00:49:22,177
A lot of people
who put out studies,

1049
00:49:22,177 --> 00:49:26,387
and it's been shown very well,
get funded by dairy sources,

1050
00:49:26,387 --> 00:49:29,677
whether it's overtly or
whether you have to dig around.

1051
00:49:29,677 --> 00:49:32,477
- So a huge amount of money
that comes into universities

1052
00:49:32,477 --> 00:49:34,437
is from the industry.

1053
00:49:34,437 --> 00:49:38,207
And so you start speaking
out against that industry

1054
00:49:38,207 --> 00:49:42,297
and your options start to close
down really, really quickly.

1055
00:49:42,297 --> 00:49:44,565
Who do you believe
in an argument,

1056
00:49:44,589 --> 00:49:45,975
is you
follow the money.

1057
00:49:47,957 --> 00:49:50,147
- Especially in New Zealand,
the farming industry, you know,

1058
00:49:50,147 --> 00:49:51,864
you're seen to be
almost unpatriotic

1059
00:49:51,889 --> 00:49:52,987
if you're not supporting it by

1060
00:49:53,012 --> 00:49:56,037
having lots of dairy,
having lots of meat.

1061
00:49:56,037 --> 00:50:01,037
- You've got an industry that
has been incredibly powerful

1062
00:50:01,117 --> 00:50:02,790
for an incredibly long time.

1063
00:50:03,857 --> 00:50:05,450
And it's deeply entrenched.

1064
00:50:06,417 --> 00:50:08,567
Now, once you
realize in New Zealand,

1065
00:50:08,567 --> 00:50:10,667
that five million cows

1066
00:50:10,667 --> 00:50:13,587
are a lot more important
than five million people,

1067
00:50:13,587 --> 00:50:16,287
then everything else
in New Zealand politics

1068
00:50:16,287 --> 00:50:18,577
suddenly makes a lot of sense,

1069
00:50:18,577 --> 00:50:21,887
because the cows are more
important than we are.

1070
00:50:21,887 --> 00:50:26,117
- Some people who are really
heavily invested in status quo

1071
00:50:26,117 --> 00:50:27,727
and you are
threatening their income,

1072
00:50:27,727 --> 00:50:32,447
and so they will be very angry
if somebody's speaking up

1073
00:50:32,447 --> 00:50:35,247
and pointing out
harm that you're doing,

1074
00:50:35,247 --> 00:50:37,497
you try to shoot them down.

1075
00:50:38,592 --> 00:50:40,982
An animal rights
group found this out first hand

1076
00:50:41,007 --> 00:50:43,657
when they took out an ad in
an international newspaper,

1077
00:50:43,657 --> 00:50:46,817
highlighting cruelty on
New Zealand dairy farms.

1078
00:50:46,817 --> 00:50:49,007
- When we placed an
ad in "The Guardian,"

1079
00:50:49,007 --> 00:50:50,337
we got a lot of abuse.

1080
00:50:50,337 --> 00:50:52,407
We got a lot of threats,
a lot of death threats.

1081
00:50:52,407 --> 00:50:54,137
I've had death threats
right throughout my

1082
00:50:54,137 --> 00:50:57,267
30 years working for
animals, but this was bad.

1083
00:50:57,267 --> 00:50:59,184
This was seriously bad.

1084
00:51:01,477 --> 00:51:04,127
This industry's
power scared me.

1085
00:51:04,127 --> 00:51:06,077
And I wasn't alone.

1086
00:51:06,077 --> 00:51:08,237
Many people I talked with
had been too frightened

1087
00:51:08,237 --> 00:51:09,680
to even speak on camera.

1088
00:51:11,467 --> 00:51:13,657
I'd already been warned
about the backlash against me

1089
00:51:13,657 --> 00:51:16,947
after making a film that
exposes these issues.

1090
00:51:16,947 --> 00:51:18,307
- Death threats happen.

1091
00:51:18,307 --> 00:51:22,237
People will make serious threats
and allegations against you

1092
00:51:22,237 --> 00:51:25,187
because they're seeing their
livelihood being threatened.

1093
00:51:25,187 --> 00:51:27,827
And so, they see
you as a threat.

1094
00:51:27,827 --> 00:51:29,887
I want you all to
be aware, like,

1095
00:51:29,887 --> 00:51:31,007
this is a reality of this.

1096
00:51:31,007 --> 00:51:34,307
Like, you guys are going up
against the biggest company

1097
00:51:34,307 --> 00:51:37,517
and then the biggest industry
in the entire country.

1098
00:51:37,517 --> 00:51:41,607
That being said, it
absolutely needs to be done.

1099
00:51:41,607 --> 00:51:43,937
The fear of reprisal
can't outweigh

1100
00:51:43,937 --> 00:51:45,297
the fear of not acting, right?

1101
00:51:45,297 --> 00:51:48,487
Like, not speaking up,
not showing this truth,

1102
00:51:48,487 --> 00:51:49,850
is the real danger.

1103
00:51:51,597 --> 00:51:53,107
They're destroying the planet.

1104
00:51:53,107 --> 00:51:56,557
They're killing these
animals and people are dying,

1105
00:51:56,557 --> 00:51:58,387
and people are literally
dying because of this,

1106
00:51:58,387 --> 00:52:00,701
and it's all for the
sake of making money.

1107
00:52:03,447 --> 00:52:04,587
I never
considered that

1108
00:52:04,587 --> 00:52:07,767
my life could be threatened
by exposing this industry.

1109
00:52:07,767 --> 00:52:09,467
But I realized that
revealing the truth

1110
00:52:09,467 --> 00:52:11,417
could also have
a powerful impact

1111
00:52:11,417 --> 00:52:14,000
and help create the change
I want so badly to see.

1112
00:52:15,237 --> 00:52:17,767
I decided that I had to
continue with the film

1113
00:52:17,767 --> 00:52:20,017
no matter what the outcome.

1114
00:52:27,187 --> 00:52:29,457
The industry claim that
dairy is essential for us

1115
00:52:29,457 --> 00:52:31,657
was starting to sound
a bit desperate to me,

1116
00:52:32,847 --> 00:52:34,297
along with their recent strategy

1117
00:52:34,297 --> 00:52:36,417
of targeting the Asian market.

1118
00:52:36,417 --> 00:52:37,557
With population growth

1119
00:52:37,557 --> 00:52:39,447
and rising incomes
in these countries,

1120
00:52:39,447 --> 00:52:42,147
it's an obvious business choice.

1121
00:52:42,147 --> 00:52:45,760
- People all around the world
are actively seeking products

1122
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:49,297
that they know they can
trust to feed their families.

1123
00:52:49,297 --> 00:52:52,027
And today our world-class
dairy products are available

1124
00:52:52,027 --> 00:52:54,570
in over 140 countries
around the world.

1125
00:52:56,027 --> 00:52:59,033
We're dedicated to sharing
this goodness with the world.

1126
00:53:02,707 --> 00:53:04,417
- People are being
told that they need

1127
00:53:04,417 --> 00:53:06,447
lots and lots of dairy.

1128
00:53:06,447 --> 00:53:08,987
There are a lot of
populations around the world

1129
00:53:08,987 --> 00:53:11,827
where dairy wasn't a part
of their cultural diet.

1130
00:53:11,827 --> 00:53:13,197
- If you look at Asia,

1131
00:53:13,197 --> 00:53:15,637
which is actually where we're
trying to market this stuff,

1132
00:53:15,637 --> 00:53:17,447
which is just bizarre because

1133
00:53:17,447 --> 00:53:20,477
lactose intolerance
rates of almost 100%

1134
00:53:20,477 --> 00:53:21,507
in many parts of Asia.

1135
00:53:21,507 --> 00:53:23,967
So we're not doing
them any favors.

1136
00:53:23,967 --> 00:53:26,887
- So exporting dairy
to Southeast Asia,

1137
00:53:26,887 --> 00:53:29,347
it's a business decision,
but at the same time,

1138
00:53:29,347 --> 00:53:33,437
you're exporting your diseases
offshore in return for money.

1139
00:53:33,437 --> 00:53:34,697
- You can already
see this happening,

1140
00:53:34,697 --> 00:53:36,554
like diabetes rates
in India and China

1141
00:53:36,579 --> 00:53:37,687
have just gone through the roof

1142
00:53:37,687 --> 00:53:40,017
as they start adopting a
more Western type of diet,

1143
00:53:40,017 --> 00:53:41,737
and dairy is a big part of that.

1144
00:53:41,737 --> 00:53:43,257
- Everywhere in
the world that this

1145
00:53:43,257 --> 00:53:44,807
European diet is
forced on people,

1146
00:53:44,807 --> 00:53:47,157
people go from the healthiest
to then the sickest.

1147
00:53:47,157 --> 00:53:48,816
It's easy to push
these white lies

1148
00:53:48,841 --> 00:53:50,177
and that's all this
industry is doing.

1149
00:53:50,177 --> 00:53:54,497
It's like, they're pushing
just outright racist lies.

1150
00:53:54,497 --> 00:53:56,177
- We're excited and we're proud

1151
00:53:56,177 --> 00:53:58,327
to be able to make
this connection

1152
00:53:58,327 --> 00:54:02,027
between the way we at Fonterra
create world-class milk

1153
00:54:02,027 --> 00:54:04,027
and the products
our dairy shows up in

1154
00:54:04,027 --> 00:54:06,210
to nourish people
around the world.

1155
00:54:07,507 --> 00:54:10,217
- It's quite a difficult
situation for New Zealand

1156
00:54:10,217 --> 00:54:12,847
to turn that sort of spotlight
on itself or whatever,

1157
00:54:12,847 --> 00:54:15,717
and say, "Actually, maybe
what we are producing here

1158
00:54:15,717 --> 00:54:18,117
isn't actually very
healthy for people.

1159
00:54:18,117 --> 00:54:20,667
And maybe we are not doing the
right thing by producing this

1160
00:54:20,667 --> 00:54:22,834
and marketing it to
the rest of the world."

1161
00:54:22,834 --> 00:54:24,107
- How far do you go

1162
00:54:24,107 --> 00:54:27,497
with justifying what you do
because there's a profit in it?

1163
00:54:27,497 --> 00:54:30,987
I hear that classic "we're
feeding the world" story.

1164
00:54:30,987 --> 00:54:32,697
I think the reality is much more

1165
00:54:32,697 --> 00:54:36,217
that people would be better
off if we didn't provide it.

1166
00:54:36,217 --> 00:54:37,917
Just because there's
a market for something

1167
00:54:37,917 --> 00:54:39,230
doesn't make it right.

1168
00:54:40,263 --> 00:54:41,587
To go
towards meeting this

1169
00:54:41,587 --> 00:54:43,347
increased global
demand for dairy,

1170
00:54:43,347 --> 00:54:47,167
Fonterra had predicted a 40%
increase in milk production

1171
00:54:47,167 --> 00:54:50,987
in the 10 year years
from 2015 to 2025.

1172
00:54:50,987 --> 00:54:52,777
With the environment
already struggling,

1173
00:54:52,777 --> 00:54:55,400
how could this increase
possibly be sustainable?

1174
00:54:56,357 --> 00:54:58,037
And what about the cows?

1175
00:54:58,037 --> 00:54:59,437
From what I'd seen
they were already

1176
00:54:59,437 --> 00:55:01,317
being pushed to their limits

1177
00:55:01,317 --> 00:55:03,667
having been selectively
bred to produce more than

1178
00:55:03,667 --> 00:55:07,037
double the amount of milk
they would naturally produce.

1179
00:55:07,037 --> 00:55:10,217
Dairy cows are usually worn
out after about five years,

1180
00:55:10,217 --> 00:55:12,297
then sent to the slaughter
house to be killed

1181
00:55:12,322 --> 00:55:14,339
and turned into hamburger mince.

1182
00:55:15,847 --> 00:55:18,107
I was curious to see what
the people who produce

1183
00:55:18,107 --> 00:55:21,730
ethical dairy products think
of this not-so-happy ending.

1184
00:55:23,187 --> 00:55:24,927
Your brand is kind
of centered around

1185
00:55:24,927 --> 00:55:26,807
this compassion
for these animals.

1186
00:55:26,807 --> 00:55:28,440
- Yeah.
- Happy cows.

1187
00:55:29,117 --> 00:55:31,317
This seems to be a bit
of a obstacle for you

1188
00:55:31,317 --> 00:55:34,577
if these cows are gonna be
eventually sent to slaughter.

1189
00:55:34,577 --> 00:55:36,267
- Mm.
- How do you deal with that?

1190
00:55:36,267 --> 00:55:38,577
How do you communicate
that with the consumer?

1191
00:55:38,577 --> 00:55:40,177
- Yeah. Well, I
mean, that's true.

1192
00:55:40,177 --> 00:55:42,257
And it's animal agriculture.

1193
00:55:42,257 --> 00:55:44,967
We should try and extend
their life as much as possible

1194
00:55:44,967 --> 00:55:49,000
without profit always being
the core driver, I suppose.

1195
00:55:49,837 --> 00:55:52,560
But then again,
she will, she will die.

1196
00:55:54,377 --> 00:55:56,627
Mmm. That's what we say.

1197
00:56:04,137 --> 00:56:05,427
Like many
New Zealanders,

1198
00:56:05,427 --> 00:56:07,737
I'd watched the undercover
footage of the dairy industry

1199
00:56:07,737 --> 00:56:10,387
from Farmwatch, a
volunteer organization

1200
00:56:10,387 --> 00:56:13,407
showing what goes on
away from the public eye.

1201
00:56:13,407 --> 00:56:14,947
I join them to see for myself

1202
00:56:14,947 --> 00:56:17,280
what happens to the
animals in dairy country.

1203
00:56:19,937 --> 00:56:21,837
- You never know what
you're gonna see, or when,

1204
00:56:21,837 --> 00:56:24,150
so you just gotta do
the time on the road.

1205
00:56:26,327 --> 00:56:29,077
Most people drive past
paddocks just like this

1206
00:56:29,077 --> 00:56:30,757
and they just see
cows eating grass,

1207
00:56:30,757 --> 00:56:32,857
and they think that
that's all there is to it.

1208
00:56:32,857 --> 00:56:34,917
But when you
think about the fact

1209
00:56:34,917 --> 00:56:36,427
that they're artificially
inseminated,

1210
00:56:36,427 --> 00:56:38,434
the fact that they
are then pregnant

1211
00:56:38,434 --> 00:56:40,127
and being milked
for nine months,

1212
00:56:40,127 --> 00:56:41,207
and then they have a baby

1213
00:56:41,207 --> 00:56:44,007
that's taken away
from them every year,

1214
00:56:44,007 --> 00:56:46,783
I think a lot of people
don't know that that happens.

1215
00:56:50,549 --> 00:56:52,547
Do you get
any negative backlash

1216
00:56:52,547 --> 00:56:54,367
from the public or from farmers?

1217
00:56:54,392 --> 00:56:55,487
- We're pretty careful.

1218
00:56:55,487 --> 00:56:58,067
Like if we get down a
road and we feel unsafe

1219
00:56:58,067 --> 00:57:00,547
and we see, kind of, any
movement, we'll just leave.

1220
00:57:00,547 --> 00:57:03,407
We've had too many close
calls to take risks like that.

1221
00:57:03,407 --> 00:57:05,907
We don't like feeling
trapped down dead-end roads.

1222
00:57:06,989 --> 00:57:08,797
Are you able just to
pull over for a minute,

1223
00:57:08,797 --> 00:57:10,355
just... thank you.

1224
00:57:14,327 --> 00:57:15,910
- Any cows that are
gonna go to slaughter

1225
00:57:15,910 --> 00:57:18,577
will be placed in that
crate, picked up by a truck,

1226
00:57:18,577 --> 00:57:20,340
and then taken to
the slaughter house.

1227
00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,275
- Car in front.

1228
00:57:25,275 --> 00:57:27,264
Someone
behind us, too.

1229
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:29,747
- Just on the road.

1230
00:57:34,297 --> 00:57:36,607
Since
you started in 2014,

1231
00:57:36,607 --> 00:57:39,288
have things become
harder to document?

1232
00:57:39,335 --> 00:57:40,610
You
drive through today

1233
00:57:40,610 --> 00:57:41,627
and you see almost nothing.

1234
00:57:41,627 --> 00:57:43,327
It's all hidden, now,
it's all off the road.

1235
00:57:43,327 --> 00:57:45,047
So it's definitely harder.

1236
00:57:45,047 --> 00:57:46,427
Once you've exposed an industry,

1237
00:57:46,427 --> 00:57:48,563
they definitely
will try and hide it.

1238
00:58:13,181 --> 00:58:14,219
- Are youse all right?

1239
00:58:14,259 --> 00:58:15,391
Yeah. We're all good.

1240
00:58:15,416 --> 00:58:16,467
- Can you please leave.

1241
00:58:16,492 --> 00:58:17,575
- OK.
- Now.

1242
00:58:18,980 --> 00:58:22,480
- Don't come back.

1243
00:58:32,547 --> 00:58:34,507
There's a big
cow straight ahead of us

1244
00:58:34,507 --> 00:58:36,477
- Big cow?
- Oh, fuck me!

1245
00:58:36,477 --> 00:58:38,256
Oh, fuck!

1246
00:59:01,247 --> 00:59:04,157
This particular cow has
a calf half out of her,

1247
00:59:04,157 --> 00:59:06,220
so she's clearly
died giving birth.

1248
00:59:07,807 --> 00:59:11,346
And then just been thrown
on this pile of dead bodies.

1249
00:59:24,747 --> 00:59:27,270
So, I'm pretty sure on
the left it's calf skins.

1250
00:59:28,637 --> 00:59:30,017
And...

1251
00:59:31,191 --> 00:59:33,770
Those are skinned calves.

1252
00:59:36,747 --> 00:59:38,343
There's a person there.

1253
00:59:38,343 --> 00:59:42,510
OK, we're gonna have to,
he's coming towards us.

1254
00:59:49,557 --> 00:59:51,517
When we do
investigations that require

1255
00:59:51,517 --> 00:59:54,100
hidden camera placements
and going out at night,

1256
00:59:55,127 --> 00:59:56,727
I mean, it's utterly terrifying.

1257
00:59:57,887 --> 01:00:00,290
It's work that nobody
should have to do.

1258
01:00:02,017 --> 01:00:05,717
And the more you look, the
more awful shit you see,

1259
01:00:05,717 --> 01:00:10,050
and you can't really ever
unsee a lot of that stuff.

1260
01:00:13,807 --> 01:00:15,857
We've seen just so much
death and suffering

1261
01:00:15,857 --> 01:00:17,457
out in dairy country.

1262
01:00:17,457 --> 01:00:19,564
It always makes
me laugh when I see,

1263
01:00:19,564 --> 01:00:21,687
"Fonterra for life"
or "Dairy for life"

1264
01:00:21,687 --> 01:00:23,307
because this industry to me

1265
01:00:23,307 --> 01:00:25,417
is just full of death
and suffering.

1266
01:00:25,417 --> 01:00:28,084
It's an industry based on death.

1267
01:00:36,717 --> 01:00:39,567
I was sickened
by what I had seen.

1268
01:00:39,567 --> 01:00:41,927
My experience with
Farmwatch made me realize

1269
01:00:41,927 --> 01:00:45,277
how most people have no chance
to see what really happens

1270
01:00:45,277 --> 01:00:47,277
behind the industry's
marketing machine.

1271
01:00:48,754 --> 01:00:49,812
- Well, initially,

1272
01:00:49,812 --> 01:00:52,867
you believe that
you're going to have

1273
01:00:52,867 --> 01:00:54,867
all the fields around
you, the animals,

1274
01:00:54,867 --> 01:00:56,617
you've got all these sort
of visions in your head

1275
01:00:56,617 --> 01:00:58,370
of what you see on the ads.

1276
01:00:59,767 --> 01:01:03,747
But the difference between
actually seeing it and doing it

1277
01:01:03,747 --> 01:01:05,977
is night and day, night and day.

1278
01:01:05,977 --> 01:01:09,907
That's when it really, truly
hits you what's going on.

1279
01:01:09,932 --> 01:01:12,535
That it's not just lush
fields and happy cows.

1280
01:01:14,547 --> 01:01:15,707
- We just have to make sure

1281
01:01:15,707 --> 01:01:17,487
that what we do
is the right thing

1282
01:01:17,487 --> 01:01:19,997
and not be trying
to hide anything.

1283
01:01:19,997 --> 01:01:24,507
- The industry is there to
make money as much as possible,

1284
01:01:24,507 --> 01:01:27,037
and basically hide
truth from people.

1285
01:01:27,037 --> 01:01:29,367
They do not want you to
know the full picture.

1286
01:01:29,367 --> 01:01:31,137
And their job really,

1287
01:01:31,137 --> 01:01:33,690
is to sweep that dark
side under the rug.

1288
01:01:34,547 --> 01:01:36,817
- It is very, very secretive.

1289
01:01:36,817 --> 01:01:39,497
If the animal experimentation
industry wasn't so well hidden

1290
01:01:39,497 --> 01:01:42,837
and people could actually
see the research and tests

1291
01:01:42,837 --> 01:01:46,237
that cows are used in, they'd
know that it's not natural.

1292
01:01:46,237 --> 01:01:49,177
If people who go and
buy their natural milk

1293
01:01:49,177 --> 01:01:51,727
from the supermarkets
saw a fistulated cow

1294
01:01:51,727 --> 01:01:54,277
that looks more like
a Frankenstein animal

1295
01:01:54,277 --> 01:01:55,767
than a natural cow
running about in a field

1296
01:01:55,767 --> 01:01:57,767
like they probably imagine,

1297
01:01:57,767 --> 01:01:59,748
it would be pretty clear to them

1298
01:01:59,748 --> 01:02:02,837
that there's not a lot natural
about the dairy industry.

1299
01:02:02,837 --> 01:02:03,987
- And it's ridiculous really

1300
01:02:03,987 --> 01:02:06,817
that we have to
rely on volunteers to

1301
01:02:06,817 --> 01:02:09,537
basically show what's
going on on the farms.

1302
01:02:09,537 --> 01:02:12,437
And what they show that goes
on the farms is just not like

1303
01:02:12,437 --> 01:02:15,127
the Fonterra open days
on the farm, of course,

1304
01:02:15,127 --> 01:02:18,047
where you can have a look
and pet a little calf.

1305
01:02:18,047 --> 01:02:20,657
No, they actually shows
what's going on on the farm.

1306
01:02:25,577 --> 01:02:28,377
- Farmers are just trying
to get through their day

1307
01:02:28,377 --> 01:02:31,680
the best way that they
can, and they're exhausted.

1308
01:02:33,087 --> 01:02:35,347
And you're also in a place
where no one's watching.

1309
01:02:35,347 --> 01:02:37,740
So it's rife for abuse.

1310
01:02:39,367 --> 01:02:42,677
- Whenever activists
put cameras out there,

1311
01:02:42,677 --> 01:02:44,619
they record
deliberate infliction

1312
01:02:44,643 --> 01:02:47,510
of suffering on animals.

1313
01:02:49,827 --> 01:02:52,257
- It's much more
convenient for them

1314
01:02:52,257 --> 01:02:53,727
if they believe
that the animals,

1315
01:02:53,727 --> 01:02:56,407
just because they're bred for
food, they're just things,

1316
01:02:56,407 --> 01:02:58,677
and they don't have
these emotions.

1317
01:02:58,677 --> 01:03:01,141
And of course, it's
completely untrue.

1318
01:03:10,177 --> 01:03:12,787
- My first morning
in the calf pens,

1319
01:03:12,787 --> 01:03:17,337
I stood there and there
were all these tiny babies,

1320
01:03:17,337 --> 01:03:19,237
lots of them still
with bloody navels,

1321
01:03:19,237 --> 01:03:21,647
some of them still
had afterbirth on them

1322
01:03:21,647 --> 01:03:24,733
that were calling out
for their Mums, basically.

1323
01:03:26,272 --> 01:03:30,892
And it hit me like a force field

1324
01:03:30,917 --> 01:03:34,651
that this is what it
took to get that milk.

1325
01:03:44,657 --> 01:03:46,317
- They bellow, and they cry.

1326
01:03:46,317 --> 01:03:49,527
They cry for their Mums,
Mums cry for their babies.

1327
01:03:49,527 --> 01:03:52,227
It became quite clear that
you were listening to pain.

1328
01:03:53,067 --> 01:03:56,440
And so you can't really forget
that once you know that.

1329
01:04:00,437 --> 01:04:06,886
And, it then forces you as
a farmer, I think to say,

1330
01:04:06,911 --> 01:04:09,730
"All right, well, what
is the greater good

1331
01:04:09,730 --> 01:04:12,084
that that pain's delivering to?"

1332
01:04:13,853 --> 01:04:14,943
I don't really wanna get into

1333
01:04:14,943 --> 01:04:17,076
the bobby calf thing
if that's all right.

1334
01:04:20,097 --> 01:04:23,237
- Back in the day they used
to pay one bob for them

1335
01:04:23,237 --> 01:04:25,537
because they were
considered so worthless.

1336
01:04:25,537 --> 01:04:28,677
Now we have around
two million a year

1337
01:04:28,677 --> 01:04:30,207
that are considered bobbies.

1338
01:04:30,207 --> 01:04:34,000
We're slaughtering two million
newborns over eight weeks.

1339
01:04:35,210 --> 01:04:37,627
- If you talk to
many dairy farmers,

1340
01:04:37,627 --> 01:04:39,327
they will say they will struggle

1341
01:04:39,327 --> 01:04:41,347
with this whole bobby calf issue

1342
01:04:41,347 --> 01:04:42,997
and taking these calves
away from the mothers,

1343
01:04:42,997 --> 01:04:44,790
they struggle with
that themselves.

1344
01:04:47,114 --> 01:04:49,364
- "So, we're really kind
to our bobby calves."

1345
01:04:50,397 --> 01:04:52,017
Bullshit!

1346
01:04:52,017 --> 01:04:53,917
You know, where
those calves are going?

1347
01:04:55,473 --> 01:04:57,097
- There were a lot of
things that I questioned

1348
01:04:57,097 --> 01:04:58,407
when I was farming,

1349
01:04:58,407 --> 01:05:01,797
and I was just sort of told
that's way it has to be.

1350
01:05:01,797 --> 01:05:04,037
It has to be this way
because of production,

1351
01:05:04,037 --> 01:05:06,197
because you know,
the industry needs milk,

1352
01:05:06,197 --> 01:05:08,417
the people need
this, this is our job.

1353
01:05:08,417 --> 01:05:10,427
What we are doing is necessary.

1354
01:05:10,427 --> 01:05:11,667
It's just generations,

1355
01:05:11,667 --> 01:05:14,067
and generations and
generations of conditioning.

1356
01:05:15,212 --> 01:05:18,401
- You have to
desensitize yourself to it.

1357
01:05:18,401 --> 01:05:21,507
If you don't, yeah,
you may end up a shivering wreck

1358
01:05:21,532 --> 01:05:25,360
and unable to continue.

1359
01:05:25,795 --> 01:05:28,476
- Just because there's
pain and suffering

1360
01:05:28,501 --> 01:05:30,173
built into a system doesn't mean

1361
01:05:30,198 --> 01:05:33,147
that the system's
bad or wrong or evil.

1362
01:05:33,147 --> 01:05:37,517
So, I am not afraid as a
agricultural storyteller

1363
01:05:37,517 --> 01:05:39,007
of talking about things like

1364
01:05:39,007 --> 01:05:41,177
institutionalized animal cruelty

1365
01:05:41,177 --> 01:05:44,360
because it makes it real.

1366
01:05:45,917 --> 01:05:47,234
And you know...

1367
01:05:50,654 --> 01:05:52,109
... think about where
I'm going with this...

1368
01:05:53,107 --> 01:05:54,949
No, I think I will
leave it there.

1369
01:05:58,497 --> 01:05:59,877
I just
couldn't understand

1370
01:05:59,877 --> 01:06:01,217
how all this could be happening

1371
01:06:01,217 --> 01:06:03,887
for a product that
we don't even need.

1372
01:06:03,887 --> 01:06:05,547
And why are we're
still putting so much

1373
01:06:05,547 --> 01:06:07,487
into propping up the industry

1374
01:06:07,487 --> 01:06:09,280
instead of
transitioning out of it.

1375
01:06:10,607 --> 01:06:13,247
Could the power of the dairy
industry be the only thing

1376
01:06:13,247 --> 01:06:16,057
that's stopping any
positive change?

1377
01:06:16,057 --> 01:06:18,397
- We know what the problems are

1378
01:06:18,397 --> 01:06:20,757
and we're just dancing
around the solution.

1379
01:06:20,757 --> 01:06:23,317
So rather than cutting
it off at the source

1380
01:06:23,317 --> 01:06:25,557
and moving away
from animal agriculture,

1381
01:06:25,557 --> 01:06:28,057
what we are doing is
we are trying to reduce

1382
01:06:28,057 --> 01:06:30,127
the negative impact
on the environment.

1383
01:06:30,127 --> 01:06:31,917
It's just a desperate attempt

1384
01:06:31,917 --> 01:06:34,273
at trying to keep
that industry alive.

1385
01:06:34,847 --> 01:06:37,797
- If you are doing
something that's stupid

1386
01:06:37,797 --> 01:06:41,247
and you then actually apply
a silver bullet, you know,

1387
01:06:41,247 --> 01:06:44,440
you are trying to
continue the stupid.

1388
01:06:45,687 --> 01:06:50,097
- All we are gonna do by
these techno fixes to dairy,

1389
01:06:50,097 --> 01:06:51,707
so, "oh, put them in a barn,"

1390
01:06:51,707 --> 01:06:54,597
or "give them methane vaccine,"
or "change their feed,"

1391
01:06:54,597 --> 01:06:57,147
That's just shifting
environmental problems around.

1392
01:06:58,917 --> 01:07:01,797
- The best way to reduce
the number of animals

1393
01:07:01,797 --> 01:07:05,787
is for more people to go
to a plant-based diet.

1394
01:07:05,787 --> 01:07:08,727
What New Zealand and
other countries can do

1395
01:07:08,727 --> 01:07:14,400
is to reduce our demand on
milk and dairy products.

1396
01:07:14,817 --> 01:07:16,457
And the farmers of course,

1397
01:07:16,457 --> 01:07:20,304
will rise up in arms because
it's their livelihood.

1398
01:07:20,304 --> 01:07:22,094
And so if you're going to say,

1399
01:07:22,094 --> 01:07:25,707
"OK, no more, you
can't keep cows anymore,"

1400
01:07:25,707 --> 01:07:29,257
there must be an alternative
for those farmers

1401
01:07:29,257 --> 01:07:31,820
because you've taken
away their livelihood.

1402
01:07:33,517 --> 01:07:34,748
One of
those alternatives

1403
01:07:34,773 --> 01:07:36,577
could be growing hemp.

1404
01:07:36,577 --> 01:07:39,257
Larrys Gold hemp products
are made by a family

1405
01:07:39,257 --> 01:07:42,207
who are trying to find their
way out of the dairy industry.

1406
01:07:43,562 --> 01:07:45,737
So you're a
fourth-generation dairy farmer

1407
01:07:45,737 --> 01:07:47,438
and you're considering
getting out of the business.

1408
01:07:47,463 --> 01:07:48,468
Why is that?

1409
01:07:48,493 --> 01:07:49,777
- It just seems a bit crazy

1410
01:07:49,777 --> 01:07:53,827
growing plant protein to feed
animals to produce protein.

1411
01:07:53,827 --> 01:07:55,687
So much less protein is produced

1412
01:07:55,687 --> 01:07:59,001
per hectare of animal
protein so, you know,

1413
01:07:59,026 --> 01:08:01,377
we've got a world to feed, and
there's so many starving people.

1414
01:08:01,377 --> 01:08:03,059
It's just a step in
the right direction.

1415
01:08:04,012 --> 01:08:06,787
We have to farm at the moment,
you know, just for income.

1416
01:08:06,787 --> 01:08:09,037
And it's hard
just to switch over

1417
01:08:09,037 --> 01:08:10,441
with a lot of debt and stuff.

1418
01:08:11,527 --> 01:08:13,217
We need some change.

1419
01:08:13,217 --> 01:08:16,210
It has to be done the right
way and phase it out, I guess?

1420
01:08:17,867 --> 01:08:20,247
Potential to grow really
good hemp around this area,

1421
01:08:20,247 --> 01:08:23,197
I think most of New
Zealand, to be honest.

1422
01:08:23,197 --> 01:08:24,360
Pretty hardy plant.

1423
01:08:25,237 --> 01:08:26,737
And how likely
is it for you guys

1424
01:08:26,737 --> 01:08:29,287
that that's gonna become
something financially viable?

1425
01:08:30,009 --> 01:08:31,567
- I think we can do it.

1426
01:08:31,567 --> 01:08:35,407
We need to have a better
industry set up in New Zealand.

1427
01:08:35,407 --> 01:08:36,967
It's pretty hard
for guys like us,

1428
01:08:36,967 --> 01:08:38,807
'cause there's nothing
around here either.

1429
01:08:38,807 --> 01:08:40,467
You know, pretty much
everything's dairy farming,

1430
01:08:40,467 --> 01:08:42,267
so that's all people
know, you know?

1431
01:08:43,225 --> 01:08:45,437
- The governing body
that is responsible

1432
01:08:45,437 --> 01:08:48,397
for enabling the hemp industry
is somewhat disabling it.

1433
01:08:48,397 --> 01:08:51,590
I guess the plant
needs to be unlocked.

1434
01:08:52,281 --> 01:08:53,380
There seemed to be

1435
01:08:53,380 --> 01:08:55,357
other options out
there for farmers.

1436
01:08:55,357 --> 01:08:57,987
So why wasn't that
change happening more?

1437
01:08:57,987 --> 01:08:59,777
And why doesn't
the hemp industry

1438
01:08:59,777 --> 01:09:01,250
have more government support?

1439
01:09:02,452 --> 01:09:04,412
- We're really just
scratching the surface

1440
01:09:04,437 --> 01:09:06,447
of what hemp can do.

1441
01:09:06,447 --> 01:09:09,947
Future food uses, future
plastic uses, construction uses,

1442
01:09:09,947 --> 01:09:13,047
and hemp itself sucks up a
hell of a lot of nitrogen.

1443
01:09:13,047 --> 01:09:15,477
It grows extremely
fast and consumes

1444
01:09:15,477 --> 01:09:17,697
four times more
CO2 than pine does.

1445
01:09:17,697 --> 01:09:19,807
If the government
enabled us to use

1446
01:09:19,807 --> 01:09:21,417
the carbon credits from hemp

1447
01:09:21,417 --> 01:09:23,177
on the emissions trading scheme,

1448
01:09:23,177 --> 01:09:27,087
the economics of hemp
would be unbelievably good.

1449
01:09:27,087 --> 01:09:28,217
But central government

1450
01:09:28,217 --> 01:09:31,687
haven't been supportive
enough, I don't feel,

1451
01:09:31,687 --> 01:09:33,417
for an industry that can solve

1452
01:09:33,417 --> 01:09:35,497
so many of the systemic problems

1453
01:09:35,497 --> 01:09:37,777
that they're trying
to undertake.

1454
01:09:37,777 --> 01:09:39,099
I think hemp
provides a wonderful

1455
01:09:39,123 --> 01:09:41,070
solution to many of those.

1456
01:09:42,487 --> 01:09:44,157
Farmers want to make a change.

1457
01:09:44,157 --> 01:09:47,377
And that's what we are
trying to do hugely is

1458
01:09:47,377 --> 01:09:49,817
enable this industry and
get it moving off the ground

1459
01:09:49,817 --> 01:09:52,058
and make it economically viable.

1460
01:09:52,083 --> 01:09:53,207
Once that happens,

1461
01:09:53,207 --> 01:09:56,620
then farmers will have a
very easy decision to make.

1462
01:09:59,367 --> 01:10:02,577
But the global demand
for dairy is still rising.

1463
01:10:02,577 --> 01:10:05,507
Even with all the plant-based
alternatives available

1464
01:10:05,507 --> 01:10:07,847
it's clear that most
people around the world

1465
01:10:07,847 --> 01:10:10,340
are still buying into
dairy industry marketing.

1466
01:10:11,567 --> 01:10:13,497
Then I discovered that
change might happen

1467
01:10:13,497 --> 01:10:16,067
in a totally unexpected way.

1468
01:10:16,067 --> 01:10:18,817
A major international
report from RethinkX

1469
01:10:18,817 --> 01:10:22,377
predicts that making
real dairy without cows

1470
01:10:22,377 --> 01:10:26,887
will wipe out the global
dairy industry by 2030.

1471
01:10:26,887 --> 01:10:29,277
Once it's cheaper
than dairy from cows,

1472
01:10:29,277 --> 01:10:31,437
big companies like
Nestle could switch

1473
01:10:31,437 --> 01:10:34,567
their milk powder supply
to the animal-free version.

1474
01:10:34,567 --> 01:10:38,154
And our milk powder
exports could be doomed.

1475
01:10:39,837 --> 01:10:43,327
- RethinkX are saying
in the US dairy industry,

1476
01:10:43,327 --> 01:10:45,297
something like a 90% reduction

1477
01:10:45,297 --> 01:10:48,060
in their cow numbers
within a decade.

1478
01:10:49,008 --> 01:10:50,070
- How realistic do you think

1479
01:10:50,070 --> 01:10:53,487
that report is and how worried
should New Zealand farmers be

1480
01:10:53,487 --> 01:10:56,297
in terms of them having
a sustainable career?

1481
01:10:56,297 --> 01:10:57,997
- I think they should
be really worried.

1482
01:10:57,997 --> 01:10:59,787
I think the last thing
the dairy industry

1483
01:10:59,787 --> 01:11:00,957
should be worried about

1484
01:11:00,957 --> 01:11:04,765
is a 10% greenhouse
gas emissions by 2030.

1485
01:11:04,790 --> 01:11:05,947
I think they've
gotta worry about

1486
01:11:05,947 --> 01:11:07,783
will they even be
around in 2030?

1487
01:11:09,207 --> 01:11:10,230
- We're going to see

1488
01:11:10,230 --> 01:11:13,917
the most consequential shift
in food production systems

1489
01:11:13,917 --> 01:11:17,367
that we've ever seen in
the past 10,000 years.

1490
01:11:17,367 --> 01:11:21,767
Cow as a technology
will become redundant.

1491
01:11:21,767 --> 01:11:25,347
This new technology is
exponentially more efficient

1492
01:11:25,347 --> 01:11:30,277
and that means that we are
seeing a huge, incredible shift,

1493
01:11:30,277 --> 01:11:32,137
the biggest one in humankind

1494
01:11:32,137 --> 01:11:34,607
in the way food
will be produced.

1495
01:11:34,607 --> 01:11:36,437
I went on
the RethinkX website

1496
01:11:36,437 --> 01:11:38,417
and saw that this
animal free dairy

1497
01:11:38,417 --> 01:11:41,807
is made by microbes
instead of mammary glands.

1498
01:11:41,807 --> 01:11:45,537
These microbes are instructed
to produce dairy proteins.

1499
01:11:45,537 --> 01:11:48,787
They go into a fermentation
tank along with feed stock,

1500
01:11:48,787 --> 01:11:50,497
and when it's
finished fermenting,

1501
01:11:50,497 --> 01:11:52,387
the microbes are filtered out,

1502
01:11:52,387 --> 01:11:55,377
leaving real dairy
protein that's identical

1503
01:11:55,377 --> 01:11:57,877
to what's found in cow's milk.

1504
01:11:59,467 --> 01:12:02,539
It's also made with
5% of the resources,

1505
01:12:02,539 --> 01:12:05,960
1% of the waste,
and 0% of the cows.

1506
01:12:08,347 --> 01:12:09,887
And because it's real dairy,

1507
01:12:09,887 --> 01:12:12,867
it tastes exactly like
what we're used to,

1508
01:12:12,867 --> 01:12:15,277
but it does come with
some of the health risks

1509
01:12:15,277 --> 01:12:17,160
that animal proteins
are linked with.

1510
01:12:19,137 --> 01:12:22,601
As I was looking into this
coming agricultural disruption,

1511
01:12:22,601 --> 01:12:24,768
COVID took over the world.

1512
01:12:26,297 --> 01:12:29,747
In lockdown, I read about the
spread of zoonotic diseases.

1513
01:12:29,747 --> 01:12:33,840
Those that jump from animals
to humans, like COVID-19.

1514
01:12:34,710 --> 01:12:36,927
It turns out that many
devastating diseases

1515
01:12:36,927 --> 01:12:40,057
have come from
animals, including Ebola,

1516
01:12:40,057 --> 01:12:43,147
SARS, HIV, and measles,

1517
01:12:43,147 --> 01:12:46,040
which originally spread
from cattle to humans.

1518
01:12:48,357 --> 01:12:49,547
I was alarmed to see

1519
01:12:49,547 --> 01:12:51,697
that the increased
demand for animal protein

1520
01:12:51,697 --> 01:12:53,807
is the number one risk factor

1521
01:12:53,807 --> 01:12:56,697
for the emergence
of zoonotic diseases.

1522
01:12:56,697 --> 01:12:58,827
Now seemed like a good
time to talk with people

1523
01:12:58,827 --> 01:13:01,351
who could tell me
more about dairy 2.0.

1524
01:13:02,347 --> 01:13:04,590
Milk made without cows.

1525
01:13:05,987 --> 01:13:08,637
- As soon as you remove
cows from the equation,

1526
01:13:08,637 --> 01:13:12,707
the business of dairy
becomes much, much easier

1527
01:13:12,707 --> 01:13:14,773
and much, much more profitable.

1528
01:13:15,329 --> 01:13:18,527
The milk created without
cows would completely blow

1529
01:13:18,527 --> 01:13:21,317
the traditional industry
out of the water.

1530
01:13:21,317 --> 01:13:24,977
- Fermentation, the way
that you produce beer,

1531
01:13:24,977 --> 01:13:28,177
is going to be the way
that you produce proteins.

1532
01:13:28,177 --> 01:13:32,169
Essentially it's gonna
be 10 times cheaper

1533
01:13:32,169 --> 01:13:33,967
than animal protein.

1534
01:13:33,967 --> 01:13:37,404
Cows cannot possibly
compete with this.

1535
01:13:37,404 --> 01:13:42,404
And the same fate is going
to happen with all livestock.

1536
01:13:42,937 --> 01:13:47,057
Pigs, chicken,
sheep, first cows,

1537
01:13:47,057 --> 01:13:50,627
because they are
the most inefficient

1538
01:13:50,627 --> 01:13:53,527
food production
system on the planet.

1539
01:13:53,527 --> 01:13:58,152
The cow produces 96% waste.

1540
01:13:58,875 --> 01:14:02,927
Of everything that it
consumes, 96% is waste.

1541
01:14:02,927 --> 01:14:05,507
So essentially you're
building up this cow

1542
01:14:05,507 --> 01:14:07,897
for two or three years
and you need all this land

1543
01:14:07,897 --> 01:14:10,057
and all this energy
and all this water,

1544
01:14:10,057 --> 01:14:14,900
and 88% of that milk is
water with no economic value.

1545
01:14:16,287 --> 01:14:20,587
There are companies already
making casein and whey

1546
01:14:20,587 --> 01:14:23,287
here in Silicon Valley
and around the world,

1547
01:14:23,287 --> 01:14:25,697
directly with
precision fermentation,

1548
01:14:25,697 --> 01:14:28,627
and selling it to cheese makers.

1549
01:14:28,627 --> 01:14:32,847
I have eaten cheese
from a Kiwi company

1550
01:14:32,847 --> 01:14:35,497
that is making precision
fermentation cheese

1551
01:14:35,497 --> 01:14:37,757
here in San Francisco.

1552
01:14:37,757 --> 01:14:40,804
- When did you start New
Culture and what's it all about?

1553
01:14:40,804 --> 01:14:45,804
- So I started New
Culture in early 2018.

1554
01:14:45,957 --> 01:14:49,817
What New Culture does is we
make cow cheese without the cow.

1555
01:14:49,817 --> 01:14:52,377
That's animal free,
that's sustainable,

1556
01:14:52,377 --> 01:14:53,700
and that's indistinguishable

1557
01:14:53,700 --> 01:14:56,697
from the dairy cheese
everyone loves.

1558
01:14:56,697 --> 01:14:58,737
And what's actually
very interesting

1559
01:14:58,737 --> 01:15:01,007
is that this process of making

1560
01:15:01,007 --> 01:15:05,027
an animal protein without
the animal is already used

1561
01:15:05,027 --> 01:15:07,407
in the dairy cheese industry.

1562
01:15:07,407 --> 01:15:10,267
And now over 90%
of dairy cheeses today

1563
01:15:10,267 --> 01:15:12,547
are made using
this animal enzyme

1564
01:15:12,547 --> 01:15:14,060
that's made without the animal.

1565
01:15:15,327 --> 01:15:18,097
It is tough to be a
Kiwi looking to disrupt

1566
01:15:18,097 --> 01:15:20,397
the New Zealand
economy in this way,

1567
01:15:20,397 --> 01:15:21,917
but, with the way
the world's going,

1568
01:15:21,917 --> 01:15:26,587
we need to change and we need
to be proactive about that.

1569
01:15:27,897 --> 01:15:30,267
- New Zealand's dairy exports

1570
01:15:30,267 --> 01:15:33,807
could be wiped out
without a single consumer

1571
01:15:33,807 --> 01:15:37,527
changing their behavior
from animal proteins

1572
01:15:37,527 --> 01:15:40,167
to precision
fermentation proteins.

1573
01:15:40,167 --> 01:15:43,167
This is all a
business-to-business disruption.

1574
01:15:43,167 --> 01:15:46,257
When is that going to happen?

1575
01:15:46,257 --> 01:15:48,184
The technology cost curve
will determine that,

1576
01:15:48,184 --> 01:15:50,377
the market will determine that,

1577
01:15:50,377 --> 01:15:53,666
but there's no doubt that
it's going to happen.

1578
01:15:55,207 --> 01:15:58,577
- I realized that this
disruption is already happening

1579
01:15:58,577 --> 01:16:00,717
with investment in
fermentation companies

1580
01:16:00,717 --> 01:16:02,797
at the highest level ever.

1581
01:16:02,797 --> 01:16:08,045
Over $435 million invested
in just the first half of 2020.

1582
01:16:08,717 --> 01:16:12,077
Why wasn't everyone talking
about the end of the cash cow

1583
01:16:12,077 --> 01:16:14,160
instead of saying
there's no threat?

1584
01:16:15,347 --> 01:16:18,007
Disruptions
usually happen quickly

1585
01:16:18,007 --> 01:16:21,117
and wipe out the
existing system.

1586
01:16:21,117 --> 01:16:22,927
Think of a forest fire.

1587
01:16:22,927 --> 01:16:25,827
When the forest is tinder ready,

1588
01:16:25,827 --> 01:16:29,360
just a little spark and
the whole forest goes.

1589
01:16:30,267 --> 01:16:32,427
It's what I call market trauma.

1590
01:16:32,427 --> 01:16:36,137
If you think your cash
flows are going to drop

1591
01:16:36,137 --> 01:16:39,057
by 90% over the next 10 years,

1592
01:16:39,057 --> 01:16:43,677
then that is going to be
reflected in your stock today.

1593
01:16:43,677 --> 01:16:45,927
Not in 10 years, but today.

1594
01:16:48,037 --> 01:16:49,697
- Do you think New
Zealand should be worried

1595
01:16:49,697 --> 01:16:52,519
about these
disruptive industries?

1596
01:16:52,519 --> 01:16:53,667
- We're looking for a premium

1597
01:16:53,667 --> 01:16:55,747
and we have to
produce better products,

1598
01:16:55,747 --> 01:16:57,277
better quality products,

1599
01:16:57,277 --> 01:16:59,107
convince consumers
that, you know,

1600
01:16:59,107 --> 01:17:00,867
they want the best nutrition,

1601
01:17:00,867 --> 01:17:04,627
and then we can remain
viable as a farming country.

1602
01:17:04,627 --> 01:17:05,834
- The old chestnut of,

1603
01:17:05,834 --> 01:17:08,623
"Well, there'll always be a
market for premium products,"

1604
01:17:08,623 --> 01:17:12,957
is just so cemented into
the psyche of our leaders.

1605
01:17:12,957 --> 01:17:17,457
The dairy industry, no matter
how quickly they pivot,

1606
01:17:17,457 --> 01:17:19,507
it's more like they're just
shuffling the, you know,

1607
01:17:19,507 --> 01:17:21,207
the chairs on the Titanic.

1608
01:17:21,207 --> 01:17:24,247
We need a new boat. Animal free.

1609
01:17:24,247 --> 01:17:29,247
When you have old, largely
pale, male, stale leaders,

1610
01:17:29,447 --> 01:17:31,927
then to get that new
dialogue coming through

1611
01:17:31,927 --> 01:17:33,777
it's almost like
pushing shit uphill.

1612
01:17:34,534 --> 01:17:37,847
- They're trying to
slow down change.

1613
01:17:37,847 --> 01:17:38,937
And because of that,

1614
01:17:38,937 --> 01:17:41,801
they're constantly staying
on the wrong side of history.

1615
01:17:43,017 --> 01:17:45,525
- What does that mean
for dairy companies?

1616
01:17:45,550 --> 01:17:47,289
What does that mean
for the dairy community?

1617
01:17:47,314 --> 01:17:50,007
What does that mean for New
Zealand's communities at large?

1618
01:17:50,007 --> 01:17:53,080
This is beyond Fonterra.
This is our livelihood.

1619
01:17:54,387 --> 01:17:55,997
- And those are
the sort of questions

1620
01:17:55,997 --> 01:17:58,957
that the government really
needs to be thinking about.

1621
01:17:58,957 --> 01:18:00,887
And I think that's just
too scary for them.

1622
01:18:00,887 --> 01:18:02,977
It's just way too scary.

1623
01:18:02,977 --> 01:18:06,057
- I'm trying to wake New
Zealand up to the fact

1624
01:18:06,057 --> 01:18:08,337
that there is an urgency.

1625
01:18:08,337 --> 01:18:11,977
The scientists get there long
before other people get there.

1626
01:18:11,977 --> 01:18:14,007
Lots of people have
talked about pandemics,

1627
01:18:14,007 --> 01:18:15,887
including myself for years,

1628
01:18:15,887 --> 01:18:17,814
and everybody
ignored us there too.

1629
01:18:18,647 --> 01:18:20,677
It's happened with the pandemic.

1630
01:18:20,677 --> 01:18:22,732
It's happened with
climate change.

1631
01:18:24,797 --> 01:18:27,997
- This is not about
only destruction.

1632
01:18:27,997 --> 01:18:30,257
This is also a
massive opportunity.

1633
01:18:30,257 --> 01:18:34,177
I mean, I see the precision
fermentation industry

1634
01:18:34,177 --> 01:18:37,580
as an emerging
trillion-dollar industry.

1635
01:18:38,887 --> 01:18:41,044
- I don't think we
are at all prepared

1636
01:18:41,044 --> 01:18:43,607
for a massive
change of this type.

1637
01:18:43,607 --> 01:18:47,240
And I don't say that to be
alarmist, more to be realistic.

1638
01:18:48,337 --> 01:18:51,637
I would like to see more of
our smarts being packaged up

1639
01:18:51,637 --> 01:18:53,297
into intellectual property

1640
01:18:53,297 --> 01:18:55,677
rather than selling carcasses

1641
01:18:55,677 --> 01:18:57,797
or bags of dehydrated powders.

1642
01:18:59,787 --> 01:19:03,937
- New Zealand better
prepare for this disruption.

1643
01:19:03,937 --> 01:19:06,837
As in now, as in the
COVID disruption,

1644
01:19:06,862 --> 01:19:12,307
those who were prepared
and those who acted decisively,

1645
01:19:12,517 --> 01:19:16,560
are the ones who are gonna
come out on top more quickly.

1646
01:19:18,415 --> 01:19:19,547
- I was blown away

1647
01:19:19,547 --> 01:19:20,737
by everything I'd learned.

1648
01:19:20,737 --> 01:19:21,987
And the fact that the government

1649
01:19:21,987 --> 01:19:24,617
still seems to be
in denial about it.

1650
01:19:24,617 --> 01:19:26,667
That means we are not preparing

1651
01:19:26,667 --> 01:19:28,330
and neither are other countries.

1652
01:19:29,417 --> 01:19:31,447
It was clear to me that
we're in big trouble

1653
01:19:31,447 --> 01:19:34,850
if we don't take this seriously
and make urgent changes.

1654
01:19:35,717 --> 01:19:39,437
It turns out that Aotearoa,
New Zealand, the US and the EU,

1655
01:19:39,437 --> 01:19:42,967
account for nearly half of
all global dairy production

1656
01:19:42,967 --> 01:19:45,567
and these governments are
also in the best position

1657
01:19:45,567 --> 01:19:48,207
to help farmers
transition out of dairy,

1658
01:19:48,207 --> 01:19:51,697
saving our economy
and our environment.

1659
01:19:51,697 --> 01:19:55,037
- We need to support our farming
communities to transition.

1660
01:19:55,037 --> 01:19:58,407
I think it is unfair for
decades to have encouraged them

1661
01:19:58,407 --> 01:20:01,857
to go into intensive dairy
and then expect them

1662
01:20:01,857 --> 01:20:04,027
to somehow tomorrow switch.

1663
01:20:04,027 --> 01:20:08,972
- Support people to
actually, you know, change.

1664
01:20:08,972 --> 01:20:11,287
We are all products

1665
01:20:11,287 --> 01:20:14,430
of where we've come from and
the life we're born into,

1666
01:20:15,507 --> 01:20:18,654
but we don't have to
continue this way, you know?

1667
01:20:19,310 --> 01:20:20,407
You know, and
we wanna live here.

1668
01:20:20,407 --> 01:20:23,037
So, clearly, living
means not dairy farming

1669
01:20:23,037 --> 01:20:25,216
'cause then dairy farming's
not really living.

1670
01:20:26,017 --> 01:20:27,737
I think we've just
stumbled onto this

1671
01:20:27,737 --> 01:20:30,307
fantastic crop for our region.

1672
01:20:30,307 --> 01:20:34,457
Pumpkins just seem
to be a boomer, really.

1673
01:20:34,457 --> 01:20:36,237
Absolutely boomer.

1674
01:20:36,237 --> 01:20:37,817
We're hoping that pumpkin seeds

1675
01:20:37,817 --> 01:20:39,730
will wipe the floor with dairy.

1676
01:20:40,927 --> 01:20:43,097
Well, if it beat dairy
farming out, return wise,

1677
01:20:43,097 --> 01:20:45,357
why would a farmer not do it?

1678
01:20:45,357 --> 01:20:48,477
I can't imagine why they
would be so bloody-minded

1679
01:20:48,477 --> 01:20:50,727
about milking cows forever.

1680
01:20:52,387 --> 01:20:54,837
I think I'm coming
into a good space now,

1681
01:20:54,837 --> 01:21:00,945
and it's been the move away
from dairy farming, definitely.

1682
01:21:02,777 --> 01:21:03,957
With the future generations

1683
01:21:03,957 --> 01:21:06,120
I think the farm will
be in good hands.

1684
01:21:07,477 --> 01:21:10,962
The land will be in
good hands, you know?

1685
01:21:18,037 --> 01:21:19,937
I'd heard of a
dairy farm near Wellington

1686
01:21:19,937 --> 01:21:23,070
that's making a transition to
growing organic vegetables.

1687
01:21:25,387 --> 01:21:27,807
Cameron Family Farms
is owned by filmmaker,

1688
01:21:27,807 --> 01:21:29,940
James Cameron
and his wife, Suzy.

1689
01:21:32,317 --> 01:21:36,010
- We bought our farm in
the Wairarapa in 2011.

1690
01:21:36,927 --> 01:21:39,517
We had two dairies
within the farm

1691
01:21:39,517 --> 01:21:43,000
and one of them being
a very successful dairy.

1692
01:21:43,857 --> 01:21:45,467
Even though I had been in

1693
01:21:45,467 --> 01:21:48,627
the environmental
sector for decades,

1694
01:21:48,627 --> 01:21:49,851
no one had ever mentioned

1695
01:21:49,876 --> 01:21:51,367
anything about
animal agriculture.

1696
01:21:51,367 --> 01:21:55,407
They had talked about dead
zones, ocean acidification,

1697
01:21:55,407 --> 01:21:58,967
deforestation, biodiversity
loss, et cetera, et cetera.

1698
01:21:58,967 --> 01:22:01,237
If you put animal
agriculture in the middle,

1699
01:22:01,237 --> 01:22:04,285
you can put all of those
things around the outside

1700
01:22:04,310 --> 01:22:05,957
and they all connect.

1701
01:22:05,957 --> 01:22:08,247
I didn't know any of this!

1702
01:22:08,247 --> 01:22:10,917
And in may of 2012,

1703
01:22:10,917 --> 01:22:15,097
we went plant-based and
realized that our dream

1704
01:22:15,097 --> 01:22:19,527
to have this beautiful
organic dairy organization

1705
01:22:19,527 --> 01:22:22,007
didn't seem like
the right way to go.

1706
01:22:22,007 --> 01:22:23,620
So we closed the dairies down.

1707
01:22:24,937 --> 01:22:27,210
So now we grow organic veggies.

1708
01:22:28,237 --> 01:22:31,867
You need less land,
you need less water,

1709
01:22:31,867 --> 01:22:33,757
you need less inputs.

1710
01:22:33,757 --> 01:22:37,130
It's a much more efficient
way of growing food.

1711
01:22:38,407 --> 01:22:40,667
And most recently the
thing that has come up

1712
01:22:40,667 --> 01:22:43,487
that should probably
be the number one thing

1713
01:22:43,487 --> 01:22:47,047
on our radar right
now is pandemics.

1714
01:22:47,047 --> 01:22:52,155
So 75 to 80% of all diseases
that have been created

1715
01:22:52,517 --> 01:22:55,380
have been created because of
the exploitation of animals.

1716
01:22:56,447 --> 01:22:57,617
- Is this a change
that you think

1717
01:22:57,617 --> 01:23:00,347
other dairy farmers in the
area could also take on?

1718
01:23:00,347 --> 01:23:04,317
- One of the things that
we noticed very early on

1719
01:23:04,317 --> 01:23:09,030
was just how quickly New
Zealanders can pivot.

1720
01:23:09,907 --> 01:23:14,497
Plant-based food products are
the largest-growing sector

1721
01:23:14,497 --> 01:23:17,530
within the food sector
around the world.

1722
01:23:18,817 --> 01:23:21,547
People have to be
able to do it in a way

1723
01:23:21,547 --> 01:23:23,617
that it's lucrative.

1724
01:23:23,617 --> 01:23:25,137
It also has to do
with being able to

1725
01:23:25,137 --> 01:23:27,747
look at themselves in the
mirror at the end of the day,

1726
01:23:27,747 --> 01:23:30,787
knowing what it's
doing to the land,

1727
01:23:30,787 --> 01:23:32,977
knowing what it's doing
to people's health,

1728
01:23:32,977 --> 01:23:35,590
knowing what it's
doing to the animals.

1729
01:23:36,577 --> 01:23:39,947
Even if it was
healthy to eat animals,

1730
01:23:39,947 --> 01:23:45,650
there is no way that
we can feed humankind

1731
01:23:46,187 --> 01:23:47,687
by eating animals.

1732
01:23:57,517 --> 01:24:00,407
No wonder we already
have a world hunger issue.

1733
01:24:00,407 --> 01:24:02,890
It's partly to do with
how we're using the land.

1734
01:24:04,407 --> 01:24:06,057
One acre of land can produce

1735
01:24:06,057 --> 01:24:08,707
15 times more
protein from plants

1736
01:24:08,707 --> 01:24:11,960
than the same area of land
used for farming animals.

1737
01:24:13,827 --> 01:24:15,939
We're also using
over three-quarters

1738
01:24:15,964 --> 01:24:17,437
of the world's
agricultural land

1739
01:24:17,437 --> 01:24:20,490
for farmed animals and to
grow food to feed them.

1740
01:24:22,057 --> 01:24:25,637
- Just imagine more grain
today is grown to feed

1741
01:24:25,637 --> 01:24:28,570
our farm animals
than starving people.

1742
01:24:30,137 --> 01:24:32,829
You know, what we're doing
now doesn't make sense.

1743
01:24:33,512 --> 01:24:36,063
So we need a whole
new way of thinking.

1744
01:24:39,767 --> 01:24:40,897
In 2019,

1745
01:24:40,897 --> 01:24:43,407
world-leading scientists
from across the globe

1746
01:24:43,407 --> 01:24:46,344
came together to
answer this question,

1747
01:24:46,344 --> 01:24:50,227
"Can we feed a future
population of 10 billion people

1748
01:24:50,227 --> 01:24:53,877
a healthy diet within
planetary boundaries?"

1749
01:24:53,877 --> 01:24:56,057
They discovered that
without a global shift

1750
01:24:56,057 --> 01:24:57,777
to a plant-based diet,

1751
01:24:57,777 --> 01:24:59,917
today's children
will inherit a planet

1752
01:24:59,917 --> 01:25:02,137
that's been severely degraded

1753
01:25:02,137 --> 01:25:05,067
and where much of the population
will increasingly suffer

1754
01:25:05,067 --> 01:25:07,960
from malnutrition and
preventable disease.

1755
01:25:09,667 --> 01:25:10,837
From everything I'd learned,

1756
01:25:10,837 --> 01:25:12,147
it wasn't just dairy

1757
01:25:12,147 --> 01:25:14,567
that we needed to move
away from consuming.

1758
01:25:14,567 --> 01:25:16,934
It was all animal products.

1759
01:25:18,457 --> 01:25:20,487
If everyone ate
a plant-based diet

1760
01:25:20,487 --> 01:25:23,890
we'd free up land area greater
than the size of Africa.

1761
01:25:25,417 --> 01:25:26,887
A lot of the world's farmland

1762
01:25:26,887 --> 01:25:29,387
could be returned
to native species,

1763
01:25:29,387 --> 01:25:31,347
an effective way
of storing carbon

1764
01:25:31,347 --> 01:25:34,440
and increasing biodiversity
at the same time.

1765
01:25:35,755 --> 01:25:36,850
In New Zealand,

1766
01:25:36,850 --> 01:25:39,667
going plant-based would
reduce our dietary emissions

1767
01:25:39,667 --> 01:25:43,587
by over 40% along with
saving the healthcare system

1768
01:25:43,587 --> 01:25:46,740
up to $20 billion
over our lifetime.

1769
01:25:47,677 --> 01:25:51,707
- Every time you put
plant-based food on your plate,

1770
01:25:51,707 --> 01:25:53,917
you're doing something
good for your health,

1771
01:25:53,917 --> 01:25:56,977
and for the environment
and for the animals.

1772
01:25:56,977 --> 01:26:00,517
It will not matter if
we have electric cars

1773
01:26:00,517 --> 01:26:03,587
or if we have sustainable
clothing to wear

1774
01:26:03,587 --> 01:26:06,060
if we don't do something
about our environment.

1775
01:26:07,147 --> 01:26:09,067
And that is a huge piece of it,

1776
01:26:09,067 --> 01:26:12,770
to be able to shift away
from animal agriculture.

1777
01:26:16,050 --> 01:26:17,058
- For me,

1778
01:26:17,058 --> 01:26:19,977
dairy was a normal part of
life growing up in New Zealand.

1779
01:26:19,977 --> 01:26:22,527
So it's been a disturbing
journey coming to understand

1780
01:26:22,527 --> 01:26:24,497
that milk isn't the
wholesome product

1781
01:26:24,497 --> 01:26:26,637
we're led to believe it is,

1782
01:26:26,637 --> 01:26:28,097
and that animal agriculture

1783
01:26:28,097 --> 01:26:30,850
is damaging our
future in so many ways.

1784
01:26:33,387 --> 01:26:36,067
But I have hope
for a different future.

1785
01:26:36,067 --> 01:26:38,857
Instead of continuing
down this doomed path,

1786
01:26:38,857 --> 01:26:41,297
we could grow healthier
and more sustainable

1787
01:26:41,297 --> 01:26:44,577
plant-based food from less land.

1788
01:26:44,577 --> 01:26:46,427
Re-wild the land we gain back

1789
01:26:47,607 --> 01:26:50,580
and live ethically with
all life on this planet.

1790
01:26:53,517 --> 01:26:56,277
Companies like Fonterra
will have to decide

1791
01:26:56,277 --> 01:26:58,687
which side of history
they want to be on,

1792
01:26:58,687 --> 01:27:00,277
to keep hiding from the truth

1793
01:27:00,277 --> 01:27:03,510
or to work together
on solutions.

1794
01:27:06,057 --> 01:27:08,787
- We all each have
a responsibility

1795
01:27:08,787 --> 01:27:09,997
because every day we live,

1796
01:27:09,997 --> 01:27:12,507
we make some
impact on the planet.

1797
01:27:12,507 --> 01:27:15,287
We have a choice as
to what sort of impact

1798
01:27:15,287 --> 01:27:16,390
we're going to make.

1799
01:27:17,737 --> 01:27:21,397
And if billions of people make
ethical choices every day,

1800
01:27:21,397 --> 01:27:22,987
even small ones,

1801
01:27:22,987 --> 01:27:25,324
that's going to lead to change

1802
01:27:26,127 --> 01:27:30,547
and eventually the impossible
will have become possible

1803
01:27:30,547 --> 01:27:32,797
and we'll change the world.