Against the flow

University funding woes threaten not just the security of outspoken researchers, but the specialised courses they teach.

- ANDREA GRAVES 

Mike Joy is the agriculture industry's least-favourite scientist. That's according to the man himself, who has pulled no punches for some 15 years when speaking about the harm to aquatic life caused by fertiliser nutrients entering waterways. In March, he told a conference that "business as usual in New Zealand is an ongoing pollution event". In 2019, he co-wrote a Tolkien-themed piece for the New York Times called "The Incontinent Cows of Middle-earth", describing how Canterbury's green pastures are plumped by "heroic levels of irrigation" and fossil fuel-derived fertiliser. The fertiliser's nitrogen, he wrote, is concentrated in cow effluent that washes into aquifers and rivers.

Joy reckons speaking out is the biggest achievement of his career as a freshwater ecologist. He's miserable about the ongoing decline of fresh water, and initially can't think of any big wins he's had. But he realises he's done a good job of raising the profile of the ill health of our rivers, aquifers and lakes - and potentially the health risk to people drinking nitrogen-enriched water. "For years, it felt like I was the only voice," he says. "I was on my own and everyone was saying, 'He's crazy. It's like questioning rugby."

In May, Joy was given notice from his position at Victoria University of Wellington's Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. The institute, whose stated aim was "to lift environmental, social and economic outcomes for all New Zealanders via good public policy", is to close after its funding was reallocated. Its two permanent research fellows, Joy and prominent economist and social policy adviser Michael Fletcher, lost their jobs along with director Simon Chapple.

A roll call of prominent thinkers and academics has been associated with the institute over the years including Jonathan Boston, Geoff Bertram, Colin James, Paul Callister and Alison Dewes, and not all are continuing their unpaid work within the university.