Government Mulling Plan Change 1 Intervention
The Government is looking at intervening on behalf of Waikato farmers who face new regulations around agricultural land use while Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms are underway.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says a series of rural resilienced set to be rolled out next week will help farmers and growers better prepared for adverse weather events.
McClay says that significant rainfall and flooding over the summer have caused damage to farms and orchards while also impacting freight, transport and other infrastructure.
"Farmers and growers have shown significant resilience getting through recent storms and ensuring the welfare of their animals. These workshops will help in emergency preparedness," he says.
The catchment emergency preparedness workshops will be held across the country with a rural resilience roadshow set to be held on the West Coast this month.
Mark Patterson, Rural Communities Minister, says rural communities are highly exposed to the impacts of emergencies, and preparation is key.
"The workshops are designed to be practical to help rural New Zealanders prepare for and respond to adverse events," he says.
A farm emergency plan template and an adverse event preparedness checklist for farmers can be found on the Good Farm website or on MPI’s website: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/funding-rural-support/adverse-events/preparing-for-adverse-events.
Additional details for workshops will be available on the events section of the NZ Landcare Trust website closer to the time.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.

OPINION: Central Hawke's Bay farmer Mark Warren recently told the Hawke's Bay Times it's time for a conversation about allowing…
OPINION: A nation that relies as heavily as NZ does on functional global shipping lanes will have to do its…