Dairy conversions surge but no return to the heady days
Environment Canterbury has confirmed a surge in interest in new dairy conversions, with four effluent discharge permits for conversions granted since the start of the year.
The council’s advice comes just days after intensive winter grazing regulations came into effect on 1 November.
Under those rules, intensive winter grazing can be practised as a permitted activity if certain criteria around land area, slope, distance from waterways and critical source areas are met.
Farmers unable to meet the criteria need to apply for resource consent.
The deadline for intensive winter grazing resource consent applications is 1 May 2023, however, according to Environment Canterbury, consent does not need to be granted by that date.
If an application is submitted by May, the IWG activity will be considered compliant in 2023 if the applicant follows what was proposed in the application and ensures that environmental risks are appropriately managed according to their IWG management plan.
Environment Canterbury general manager – regulatory services Judith Earl-Goulet says Canterbury farmers are working hard to reduce their impact on waterways.
“We’re really happy to see that farmers have made huge strides in improving winter grazing practices over the past 10 years,” she says.
“We acknowledge that getting the paperwork right can add to the stress of running a farming business and we want to try to make this process as straightforward as possible, so farmers can spend their time on-farm working to make improvements.”
For more information about the application, Environment Canterbury suggests visiting its intensive winter grazing webpage or its Farmers’ Hub webpage.
