Hoggard slams outdated farm regulations
"We're trying to get to the promised land but we're still in a bit of a swamp at the moment."
Environment Canterbury says it is pausing the development of its Regional Policy Statement following changes in government direction on freshwater management.
New legislation introduced in October states that Councils cannot notify freshwater planning instruments for public consultation before 31 December 2025 or until a new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management is introduced.
Councillors have also voted to engage with Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds to clarify if there is a pathway to notify its Plan Change 8 prior to January 2026.
Plan Change 8 would enable decision-making following the Supreme Court decision in the Cloud Ocean Water Limited v Aotearoa Water Action case.
The court found that the Resource Management Act did not require take and use to be considered conjointly in all cases and take and use do not need to be considered separately where a plan does not prescribe it.
Plan Change 8, Environment Canterbury says, aims to create a pathway for key infrastructure work that intercept groundwater to be able to apply for consent, even in fully allocated zones.
Environment Canterbury chair Craig Pauling says the decision to pause both the Regional Policy Statement and Plan Change 8 was tough.
However, he says that given the changes to the Resource Management Act already in place and with further changes signalled, councillors had decided it was prudent to put the work on pause.
“I’d like to thank all the staff for their work and the community for their engagement in this mahi to date and to reassure them that input will inform our future planning work,” Pauling says.
“We will continue to work with our communities to achieve the best outcomes for Canterbury/Waitaha.”
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.
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