The Government could be buying itself a fight with the farming lobby after suggesting there needs to be fewer cows.

Environment Minister David Parker told TVNZ's Q+A programme there would not be a direct cap on the number of cattle but there may be limits on the amount of nutrients lost from a farm into a waterway.

"Cow numbers have already peaked and are going down, but yes, in some areas, the number of cows per hectare is higher than the environment can sustain. That won't be done through a raw cap on cow numbers; it will be done on nutrient limits, the amount of nutrient that can be lost from a farm to a waterway, because it's not just a dairy cow issue."

SONITA CHANDAR/STUFF

New Zealand may be at peak cow.

Asked about the economic impact, particularly dairying regions, Parker said there had been no analysis yet.

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"But it's very, very difficult to model, because second-best from the farmer perspective may still be very close to the same outcome profit-wise. Can I go back to what I was saying that I think one of the answers to this in south Canterbury, for example, lies in land use change towards more cropping, more horticulture, which are high-value land uses.'

TOM LEE/STUFF

Environment Minister David Parker says cow numbers are too high

While the Government would not subsidise land use change, it would enable that through new technologies that it was willing to subsidise to bring forward.

But he ruled out compensation for farmers who might be forced to reduce stock numbers.

"No you don't compensate people for stopping polluting. Just because you could pollute last year doesn't mean you should be allowed to do it all, or paid to stop doing it."

Parker said he was committed to cleaning up New Zealand's waterways, as Labour campaigned on.

"I've spent a lot of my life trying to fight for environmental causes. This is my last time through cabinet, and I'll have failed as a politician if I don't use my position now to stop this [happening]."

Where people would not voluntarily stop polluting the Government would regulate, Parker told Q+A.

"We fought an election on this issue. We've got a representative democracy. We've won the political battle. Now it's about implementation. Most of the farming sector agree with that.

"There is the occasional outlier. One of the Federated Farmers heads from the Wairarapa during the last election denied that dairy farming caused pollution of rivers. So there are some people who are in denial.

"Now, those people will have to be regulated to do the right thing, because they may not be willing to do it voluntarily. That's the purpose of environmental regulation."

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 - Stuff