Saturday, March 30, 2024

Race against time on winter grazing

Neal Wallace
Farming leaders, government work to head off consent crunch.
Jason Herrick says the Feds are rejecting the deemed permit initiative as it will force farmers to change their practices, which could result in worse environmental outcomes.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last-minute discussions are underway to ensure farmers can winter livestock on crops next year without swamping regional councils with urgent resource consent applications.

Farming leaders, regional councils and the government are rapidly trying to find a solution after it emerged that officials are unlikely to have finalised Freshwater Management Plan criteria in time for planting intensive winter grazing (IWG) crops.

This process is an alternative form of approval for non-compliant winter graziers and without it, thousands of farmers may need resource consent for next winter.

Farming groups are calling for a year’s deferral of the new rules, citing the absence of a freshwater plan.

The government is also asking regional councils if they have the ability to implement its new IWG regulations, due to come into force on November 1.

Environment Southland chair Nicol Horrell said work is underway behind the scenes to find a solution, but he thinks deferring the regulations would send the wrong message to the public.

“If we delay again it has a lot of negative connotations,” Horrell said.

“It is better if we come up with a simple alternative, and we are working through this.”

Local Government NZ regional chair Doug Leeder said councils will struggle to process the volume of IWG consents. He is urging farmers to meet with councils to find an alternative.

“Don’t ignore it, that is the worst option. Tell the regional council what you are doing and seek assistance.” 

Jason Herrick, Southland Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesperson, said farmers need the issue to be resolved ahead of spring sowing.

“Farmers need certainty and certainty is not what they have got right now.”

AgFirst Consultant James Allen said the new IWG rules apply to all farms and he urged farmers to assess whether their wintering plans comply.

Farming group leaders estimate 1000 Waikato farmers will be captured by the regulations.

Dave Harrison, Beef + Lamb NZ’s manager of policy and advocacy, said farming groups are not seeking to re-litigate IWG rules in the short term but need an alternative to having to apply for resource consent.

“We are seeking a delay to the implementation of IWG regulations by a year because the freshwater plans are out of cycle.”

The government has told rural leaders it is considering the request.

Harrison said there are interim solutions, including an IWG plan developed 18 months ago by the Winter Grazing Advisory Group in Southland.

Herrick said that template could be used in the interim, but in the longer term he wants the government to revisit the 10 degree maximum slope limit for winter crops, beyond which farmers must get consent or follow the still-to-be-released freshwater plan.

He thinks the criteria should be increased to 15 degrees as current restrictions apply to any continuous 20m length of a paddock that is 10 degrees or more ,and captures too many crops, he said.

Environment Minister David Parker acknowledged issues raised by industry bodies about council readiness.

“I’ve therefore directed officials to work with relevant councils to get a full picture of councils’ readiness to implement the IWG regulations. I expect to receive advice on this shortly,” Parker said.

He said IWG rules have already been deferred once to give farmers and councils time to prepare.

“I understand that key councils are working with farmers now to help them prepare for the coming season,” he said.

Responding to questions from Farmers Weekly, a Ministry for the Environment spokesperson said IWG regulations were amended in April and will come into effect as planned from November 1. If farmers cannot meet permitted activity standards, they should apply for a resource consent from their regional council. 

The spokesperson said Freshwater Farm Plans are expected to start coming into effect from 2023 and in stages of three or four regions at a time.  

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