A freshwater ecologist says that farmers should be gifted a one-off $12 billion payment to stop dairying and convert to industries with a lower carbon footprint.

Victoria University of Wellington’s Dr Mike Joy says taxpayers are paying $400 per kilogram of nitrate per hectare per year through a scheme organised by regional councils to compensate for farmers removing nitrate from lakes.

He says that through a calculation of $400 a kilo of nitrate from 33 million tonnes of nitrate lost every year comes to $12 billion.

Joy spoke to Simon Barnett and James Daniels about what farmers can do to farm better and why they should make the change to more eco-friendly industries.

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