To the editor

The May issue of Touchstone had a sad story about the suffering of Sri Lankan citizens facing severe shortages of food. The problem was attributed to a “ban on chemical fertilisers hitting the farm sector”. Imagine my surprise to turn the page and find several poorly considered comments about fertiliser in a book review. One such comment was that “Agricultural practices that minimise the use of fertiliser and water and the planting of trees are good for the land”. Planting trees is certainly good, but to infer that minimising fertiliser and water is good for the land, is complete nonsense.

To the contrary, judicious use of fertiliser and irrigation water builds up the organic matter layer in the soil (aka topsoil) effectively storing carbon and contributing to climate change mitigation. Most of us farming the land take our environmental responsibilities seriously. In our case this has meant a constructed wetland to absorb excessive nutrients before surface water runoff enters the river. We have also planted 180ha of trees to absorb our cow and tractor greenhouse gas emissions.

Food price inflation is real, ask the poor people of Sri Lanka. Calls to interfere with food production by minimising the very components that result in plant growth, will make the problem worse and disadvantaged communities will be the first to suffer. Socially minded Methodists should be careful what they wish for.

Gray Baldwin

Dairy Farmer

Parish Council Chair, St Paul’s Anglican-Methodist Church, Putaruru