increase font size
Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes a recent court decision which granted a stay on rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan until legislative changes can be made by government.
Following earlier court decisions, the plan would have required more than 3,000 Southland farmers to apply for an expensive resource consent to continue farming.
“Delaying legal processes until the Government’s proposed amendments to the RMA can be made is a pragmatic decision,” says Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick.
“Requiring 3,000 local farmers to get a resource consent would have been nothing short of an impractical and expensive box-ticking exercise for absolutely no environmental gain,” Herrick says.
He says this would have been a significant cost for most farmers, ranging between $10,000 and $30,000 each, to continue day-to-day farming activities.
"We’re really pleased common sense has prevailed this week and farmers won’t need to waste their time or money jumping through bureaucratic hoops for no reason."
"The activist groups who initially brought this case, like Fish & Game and Forest & Bird, should be hanging their heads in shame," Herrick says.
"All they’ve done is stir up a whole lot of angst and uncertainty in our rural communities and I don’t think they’ve taken any accountability for that.
"Thankfully the politicians have listened and delivered a solution, and the court have put this stay in place so no more time or money is wasted while the law is being changed."
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
Farmers want the Government to scrap controversial freshwater rules that "put river spirits and ideology ahead of practical water use", says Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…
