Source: Federated Farmers of New Zealand
Federated Farmers is welcoming the Government’s decision to step in and pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1, giving farmers much-needed breathing room while the resource management system is overhauled.
The intervention comes after repeated calls from Federated Farmers – including a public meeting at Mystery Creek – for the Government to put PC1 on ice.
“This is a really positive step for Waikato farmers and a direct response to the concerns we’ve been raising,” says Waikato Federated Farmers president Chris Woolerton.
“PC1 threatened to burden thousands of Waikato farmers with new consenting and farm-planning requirements.
“We’ve been saying for months that it made no sense to force farmers into a new set of rules when the Government is in the middle of overhauling the RMA, freshwater rules and the farm planning system.
“Farmers will be hugely relieved to now have some breathing room, and that’s exactly what we were asking for.”
A particularly significant win is for more than 400 farmers in the Whangamarino Wetland catchment.
“Those farmers were staring down a huge amount of uncertainty and compliance cost just to keep doing what they’re already doing,” Woolerton says.
“They were going to have to get a restricted discretionary resource consent simply to continue their existing farming activities.
“Removing that consenting requirement for the next five years is a massive relief.
“It means these farmers can get on with farming rather than spending thousands of dollars and countless hours navigating a consenting process that was never going to make sense alongside the Government’s new national system.”
The Government’s decision to delay farm-planning requirements for five years is also welcomed by Federated Farmers, as it will give the national farm plan system time to be developed and put in place.
“We’ve been calling for a system that’s nationally consistent and actually works for farmers,” Woolerton says.
“Having Waikato farmers jump through a separate set of hoops while the Government is developing a national farm plan system was simply going to create duplication and confusion.
“Bringing these requirements into line with the national system is a commonsense and pragmatic approach.”
However, Woolerton says Federated Farmers is disappointed that the changes announced do not appear to address the restrictions on land-use flexibility.
“We’re pleased the Government has listened on consenting and farm planning, but there is still a big issue sitting in the middle of PC1 that needs to be resolved.
“Farmers need to be able to respond to changing markets and opportunities. They shouldn’t be locked into one particular farming system because of rules written years ago.
“We’re still working through exactly what these rules will mean for growers, but this is potentially a major issue for vegetable production in the Waikato.”
Woolerton says the biggest issue facing Kiwis right now is the cost of living, so it makes no sense to put a roadblock up in the way of anyone wanting to grow vegetables in the Waikato.
“Kiwis want affordable, locally grown vegetables. We need farmers to be able to respond when the market needs more vegetables, not have regulations making it harder to change land use.
“The same principle applies to farmers wanting to change between different types of livestock.
“A dairy farmer should be able to respond to market conditions by changing their farming system without being effectively locked out of returning to another productive use of their land.”
Federated Farmers says it will continue working through the detail of the Government’s announcement and what it means for farmers affected by PC1.
“We’ve got a lot to work through, and we’ll be looking closely at exactly how these changes will work in practice, but the direction is right,” Woolerton says.
“Farmers needed certainty, breathing room and a system that doesn’t make them comply with one set of rules today, only to replace them with another set tomorrow.
“We’ll keep pushing to make sure the final system gives farmers the flexibility they need to farm productively while continuing to deliver environmental improvements.”