Pair sentenced over illegal slaughter and sale of pigs
An Auckland woman has been fined $25,245 and an Auckland man has been ordered to do 300 hours of community service for the illegal slaughter and sales of pigs.
Over the past two Kiwifruit seasons, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council has prosecuted five orchardists for illegally taking more than 100 million litres of water.
All have pleaded guilty to the charges relating to the unlawful takes at their orchard, resulting in fines totalling $196,500.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council regulatory compliance manager, Matt Harrex, says resource consents provide important protection to the natural environment and across all of these prosecutions, the orchardists ignored that requirement.
“Clamping down on illegal water takes has been a significant focus for Regional Council for the past ten years,” Harrex says.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working with industry to educate growers that anything above the daily permitted water take requires resource consent. For the most part growers are doing the right thing with over 1,000 resource consents for water takes granted over the last decade.”
He says that, depending on variables like soil, rainfall and field capacity, at least 40m³ of water may be required each day to irrigate one hectare of kiwifruit canopy in the heat of summer.
“This is more than the permitted daily take of 35 m³ per day, and orchards are generally a lot bigger than one hectare, so it’s always disappointing to come across those that are aware of the need to apply for resource consent but have made a conscious decision to take the water anyway,” Harrex says.
In the sentencing decision for Woodlands Orchards, Judge Kirkpatrick says the increasing demand for water in the Bay of Plenty is placing pressure on streams, rivers, springs, and groundwater.
“Over abstraction of groundwater can degrade groundwater quality and reduce water levels in aquifer systems and associated surface waterbodies,” Kirkpatrick says.
The 2025 South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) chairman, Rangiora farmer Andrew Stewart, is predicting a successful event on the back of good news coming out of the farming sector and with it a greater level of optimism among farmers.
WorkSafe New Zealand is calling on farmers to consider how vehicles move inside their barns and sheds, following a sentencing for a death at one of South Canterbury’s biggest agribusinesses.
Now is not the time to stop incorporating plantain into dairy pasture systems to reduce nitrogen (N) loss, says Agricom Australasia brand manager Mark Brown.
Building on the success of last year's events, the opportunity to attend People Expos is back for 2025, offering farmers the chance to be inspired and gain more tips and insights for their toolkits to support their people on farm.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients fertiliser SustaiN – which contains a urease inhibitor that reduces the amount of ammonia released to the air – has now been registered by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). It is the first fertiliser in New Zealand to achieve this status.
Precision application of nitrogen can improve yields, but the costs of testing currently outweigh improved returns, according to new research from Plant and Food Research, MPI and Ravensdown.
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