Taranaki farmer fined $15,000 for illegal NAIT tag swapping
A Taranaki farmer and livestock agent who illegally swapped NAIT tags from cows infected with a bovine disease in an attempt to sell the cows has been fined $15,000.
This is a 50% reduction to the current levy.
"This levy reduction is a good news story for farmers and demonstrates NAIT's commitment to reduce costs to farmers as soon as possible," said Dr Stu Hutchings, group manager, programme design and farm operations.
A range of industry groups made submissions on the proposal to reduce the levy.
"NAIT's intention is to only recover what it needs to operate and maintain its systems. This is the second levy reduction we've been able to deliver to farmers within 12 months. A full funding review of NAIT will be undertaken later this year," says Dr Hutchings.
