Water Efficiency
Over the last ten years, the amount of droughts affecting New Zealand farms has steadily increased which has put a strain on the amount of supplement that can be provided to the milking cows that inhabit these farms. This shortage of water also affects our exports as well because the quality of the cows directly affects the quality of milk produced, which correlates to the butter produced. In parts of the North Island, as stated by Niwa 2013, was lower than past years which shows the decrease in water that is available to farms around the north island.
The availability of water in New Zealand over the last ten years has been a real concern with droughts occurring more and more frequently. Producing butter has its downfalls and the amount of water needed in the process puts a huge strain on New Zealand’s water supply. “In the 2013 financial year, Fonterra New Zealand’s operations used 40 million cubic metres of fresh water and recycled or reused 6.1 percent” ( per Fonterra/ Water Efficiency ). This large amount of water being used needs to be fed back from where it came from in higher numbers otherwise eventually New Zealand will not be able to sustain the amount of water being used in butter production.
Because the amount of water being used is so vast and the information given out by Fonterra is so vague, it is hard to pinpoint exactly how much of the water is used in Butter Production. So assumptions have to be made.
Because butter production is a big part of Fonterra’s exports, I assumed that the majority of the water being used by Fonterra was used in the butter making process. This means if less water is available each year then this will start to have an effect on the process of making butter.
In the future, Fonterra need to have better strategies to maximise the output of water if they are still going to be inputting a lot more in. Because 6.1 %( per Fonterra/ Water Efficiency) of the water they used last year being replenished into the water supply is not a productive way of reclycling what you use.