Farmers demand simpler freshwater rules

Farmers are urging the Authorities to simplify freshwater farm plans and make the entire course of easier and extra inexpensive for them.

Federated Farmers wrote to the Authorities this week, calling for “pressing and important modifications”.

Freshwater farm plans, legislated beneath the Useful resource Administration Act 1991 (RMA) and the Useful resource Administration (Freshwater Farm Plans) Rules 2023 laws farmers to do an on-farm freshwater threat evaluation and establish actions to both handle or mitigate these dangers.

Freshwater farm plans will must be licensed and audited. The outcomes of certification and auditing shall be reported to the respective regional council.

Federated Farmers nationwide vp Colin Hurst says that with the suitable settings farm plans current an enormous alternative to enhance environmental outcomes, cut back duplication and take away the necessity for farmers to acquire costly and time-consuming consents.

Sadly, the present framework is ‘a whole canine”, he says.

“It’s put in place an impractical and inefficient system the place it’s extremely costly to put in writing, certify and audit the plans.

 “To make issues worse the principles go too far and seize all properties over 20ha, and current business or council farm plans aren’t recognised.

  “There’s a irritating degree of duplication with most farmers nonetheless required to get a useful resource consent along with their farm plan.”

  Federated Farmers needs the Authorities to place in place a sensible, pragmatic and efficient system that can enhance environmental outcomes whereas decreasing the regulatory burden and pointless value.

  Hurst says they don’t wish to see one other costly ‘field ticking’ train that ties farmers up with limitless and arbitrary paperwork for little or no environmental acquire.

  “What we’ve requested for is a tiered system that takes a risk-based strategy, the place the extent of plan that you must put in place is decided by your particular catchment and farming exercise.

  “These plans needs to be a substitute for, not along with, costly useful resource consents for issues like winter grazing and inventory exclusion.

  “They need to additionally change the necessity for a few of the impractical one-size-fits-all laws utilized nationally and permit farmers and catchments to tailor their environmental enchancment actions to match native wants.”