Shit of a Week.

Sometimes being a journalist you have those periods when all the stories you write seem to have a common thread, or seem to be on or vaguely connected to the same topic. Well this has been one of those weeks.

It started on Tuesday when I came across against an interesting technical development created by Agresearch. The scientists there have come up with a bolus (that's a big pill to you lay people) that can cut greenhouse gas emissions and soluble nitrate problems in dairy herds by 60 percent. That was followed on Wednesday by covering the farming sustainability study published by the Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Morgan Williams. In a nutshell it slams the increasing use of fertilisers and the effect intensive farming practices (eg dairy) are having on our waterways. Today I get a call from a friendly enforcement officer from Environment Canterbury who tells me about a spot check they did yesterday on waterways around the Lake Ellesmere Area to see if there was any "unauthorized effluent" (ie cow shit) in them.

You'd think that would be about as many cowshit stories as one person could cover in one week but I fear it's not over yet. I confidently predict that tomorrow the Department of Conservation, Ngai Tahu, and the North Canterbury Fish and Game Council will lodge an appeal in the Environment Court. Can you guess what it's about? I won't hold you in suspense. They're challenging resource consents granted last month to Corllea Cows Limited to dispose of effluent from a 750 dairy cow herd onto land adjacent to Lake Ellesmere!

And you thought you'd had a shit of a week.

Post Script (for the media nuts):
Tomorrow is the last day at TRN for Radio Sport host Martin Devlin. He's been picked up by Radioworks for a handsome sum. Expect to see him as the breakfast host on a rebranded Radio Pacific due to launced some time in the New year