Nearly two-thirds of the 3500 Southland farms (pāmu) that intensively winter-graze stock may need resource consent, according to the ACT Party.
But for some of those farmers (kaimahi pāmu), that will be irrelevant, with about 1000 who attended a meeting in Invercargill last week supporting action that ignores the requirement to get consent for winter grazing.
Southland Federated Farmers vice-president Bernadette Hunt said there is no compulsion to take this approach, but the federation’s executive has agreed not to seek resource consent to show solidarity with farmers who take a similar stance.
“People will now know if they make a decision not to apply for consent, they are not the only person operating illegally.”
Hunt said the move was prompted by the failure of the Ministry for the Environment to compile freshwater farm plan criteria in time for next winter, an alternative for some to meet winter grazing conditions.
Because of that, Hunt said, some farmers have to apply for resource consent, requiring payment of a $1725 deposit, a system she describes as a bureaucratic process.
“It will obviously have no positive effect as Environment Southland cannot scrutinise every resource consent or monitor those consents over winter,” she said.
Hunt said farmers are being reminded to maintain their environmental standards, which Environment Southland acknowledges are improving.
In a statement Environment Southland said it encourages farmers to be compliant by either meeting permitted activity criteria, obtaining the necessary land use consent or getting a deemed permitted activity.
This has been introduced by the council for intensive winter grazing (IWG) on land between 10 and 15 degrees where all other permitted activity criteria are met.
“Our focus continues to be on working with the rural sector to encourage compliance with the existing rules for winter grazing by providing advice and education on the three pathways available.”
Just one application for a deemed permit has been received so far.
The council will monitor farms as it has done in recent seasons, with a focus on high-risk activities.
Hunt said Southland farmers’ ire at IWG rules has only been exacerbated by the government’s response to He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN).
“The anger toward those rules is palpable and when you poke in HWEN on top of that along with the government’s response, you can see why they are annoyed.”
Mark Cameron, ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson, said documents he has obtained show up to 3500 farms in Southland use IWG practices, and Environment Southland figures reveal 2000 of those properties contain a slope of 10 degrees and will need resource consent.
Cameron said Associate Minister of Agriculture Meka Whaitiri tried to downplay the size of the problem by saying only 6.5% of Southland’s winter forage crops are on slopes greater than 10 degrees.
He said the minister is wrong and Environment Southland’s introduction of deemed permits is a sign councils can’t keep up with the regulatory burden so are implementing their own rules.
“This is proof that [Environment Minister] David Parker’s plans have not worked. He has tried to force a one-size-fits-all plan on farmers across the country that was never going to work.”
A spokesperson for Parker said officials estimate that, as at 2021, only about 6.5% of Southland’s winter forage crops will trigger the slope conditions.
“While freshwater farm plans will help to manage IWG and other activities in future, it was not intended that they be in place by now, nor that they will be a substitute for rules around intensive winter grazing,” the spokesperson said.
Even when freshwater farm plans are in place, he said, farmers whose farm plans cannot meet winter grazing conditions may still need to obtain consent.
