Farmers, foresters, and growers were asked to compare their environmental performance of their operations with the environmental performance of their rural neighbours and of people living in cities. We also asked how they thought city dwellers would rate the environmental performance of the rural sector.
In addition, we asked urban residents what they thought of both urban and rural environmental performance. We also asked farmers, foresters, and growers what aspects of the environment they had focused on over the past two year, and what aspects they would focus on in the future.
Most farmers, foresters, and growers describe their own environmental performance as being very good – much higher than the environmental performance of others in their region. They consider the environmental performance of cities and towns to be below average.
Urban residents think more highly of rural environmental performance than farmers, foresters, and growers believe. Urban residents think environmental performance in cities and towns is about the same as in rural areas.
Managing environmental outcomes
Farmers, foresters, and growers mostly focus their environmental management on improving the health of their soil and waterways. Over the next two years, they expect to continue with largely the same management focus, although more plan to increase their effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Graph: Managing environmental outcomes
Focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next two years varies by industry. More dairy farmers will focus on greenhouse gases than people in other industries.
Graph: % of respondents who rated their focus on greenhouse gases over the next 2 years as 4 or 5 (out of 5)
About the survey
The Survey of Rural Decision Makers is designed to build a better picture of decision-making at the farm level, tackling topics that cannot be easily addressed in official statistics or directly by organisations. It is a valuable resource for policy makers, regional councils, industry groups and businesses.
