By Jacqui Hahn, Federated Farmers Waikato President When will the foolish regulations stop?! Only when people look in depth at the various parties’ policies around agriculture and are smart about who they vote for. Reports from the Rural Support Trust show they’ve never had demand like they have had in the past few months. The […]
Water
Future-proofed with his own 13ha dam
By Simon Edwards There were plenty of people who told Len French he was mad to try and build an irrigation reservoir on his farm. But he’s ploughed on through regulatory and other hurdles, and got it done. Len owns and farms 380ha at Whareama, east of Masterton, and leases another 548ha. The Federated Farmers […]
Lifting our game on restoring waterways
The challenge of restoring waterways in partnership with hapu, iwi, councils and farmers will take many decades but can be done through sustainable practices. This was the consensus of a panel discussion on freshwater. Speaking at the Resource Management Law Association conference in Rotorua last month were Federated Farmers group manager, regional policy, Dr Paul […]
Environmental lens needed for regional spatial plans: Upton
Regional spatial plans need to work in tandem with environmental caveats that protect rivers, wetlands and the coastline, said Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. Speaking at the Resource Management Law Association conference in Rotorua during September, Upton outlined proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act (RMA) 1991. The government plans to repeal the […]
Is it illegal to build a sandcastle in NZ?
By Paul Melville, Federated Farmers Principal Advisor Water and Environment Strategy For the last two years many farmers have appealed what they view as unworkable freshwater regulations. The chief culprits have been rules requiring resource consents for planting a winter forage crop, rules that make paddocks of weeds so-called protected wetlands, and rules that require […]
Unnecessary limbo persists for winter grazing rules
Thousands of farmers remain in limbo as Federated Farmers continue to seek clarity on winter grazing rules, Federated Farmers national board member Colin Hurst says. Environment Minister David Parker passed a raft of freshwater rules in 2020, including new winter grazing regulations. These required that grazing of a winter forage crop either comply with rules […]
Central Plains Water Contributes $1M to local Community
Over the past five years Central Plains Water Limited (CPW) has contributed over one million dollars to a variety of projects that enhance biodiversity in the CPW operational area. The Central Plains Water Environmental Management Fund (EMF) was established as part of the CPW consent. CPW provides annual contributions of approximately $115,000 to the fund. […]
“Education over regulation”
Jason Herrick Southland Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesperson For as long as I can remember, the amount of poorly thought out policies and regulations, have been coming from central government through Ministers and Ministries. Just because one person thinks something is a great idea, does it really mean that it is fit for purpose or […]
New arable tool aims to find true costs
Arable farmers must understand their ‘true cost’ of production to ensure continued financial viability – and Federated Farmers has a new spreadsheet designed to do exactly that. The cost of production spreadsheet offers growers a unique tool with which to analyse all relevant costs associated with growing ryegrass and white clover seed crops and running […]
South Westland rivers are pristine – told you so says Feds
University of Otago research describing the water quality of South Westland rivers as pristine, despite 160 years of river flats farming, is no surprise to Federated Farmers. Feds freshwater spokesperson Colin Hurst says we already knew this, but the additional science-based corroboration is great to have as we continue to put the case to government […]