Farmers hail changes to Resource Management Act
Changes to resource management laws announced last week will spare thousands of farmers from needing an unnecessary resource consent just to keep farming.
A Matamata truck wash business and a Hauraki farmer have both been convicted and fined over separate pollution events resulting from poor management of effluent infrastructure.
Paddy Smith Limited was fined $60,000 by Judge Jeff Smith in the Tauranga District Court for the unlawful discharge of animal effluent from the washdown of stock trucks at their rural site.
William Gary Brunt was fined $49,000 by Judge Brian Dwyer in the Hamilton District Court for unlawfully discharging animal effluent into the environment at his Netherton farm.
In the first case, Waikato Regional Council responded to a complaint from a member of the public in May 2020. Council staff found that an irrigator had been operated next to a gully for about six hours resulting in substantial ponding of contaminant creating flow paths to the Tututahunga Station. The discharge comprised washdown from stock trucks.
In the second case, an effluent holding pond was found to be overflowing into a nearby paddock by Waikato Regional Council staff during a routine inspection in August 2019. The council had alerted Brunt to the risks his system posed to the environment during previous inspections.
Waikato Regional Council’s regional compliance manager Patrick Lynch says “In both cases there was adequate infrastructure to manage effluent; however, they had been poorly managed resulting in these two completely avoidable incidents.
“This is an opportunity to remind anyone that manages contaminants as part of their business to be vigilant, not only to protect the environment, but also to protect themselves from the consequences of environmental breaches,” Lynch says.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
Balclutha farmer Renae Martin remembers the moment she fell in love with cows.
Academic freedom is a privilege and it's put at risk when people abuse it.
All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.
Claims that some Southland farmers were invoiced up to $4000 for winter grazing compliance checks despite not breaching rules are being rejected by Environment Southland.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.