increase font size
Throughout New Zealand, right now, various district councils are busy developing new rules to restrict all subdivision of our better quality rural land.
While I agree that all sizeable parcels of our best soil types should be preserved for future farming, it is too late to turn many smaller holdings back into large scale farms. Therefore these proposed rules should not be applied to holdings of less than 20-30ha.
My partner and I own one such smallholding (16ha) and were happy with this until we learned of the proposed new rules. I know of many other lifestyle block owners who are unhappy with the proposed rules and I would like the rest of you see it from our point of view.
Firstly, in my case, we are of a low income family and have worked hard over many years to buy our lifestyle block. We come from farming backgrounds and longed to live the rural life again.
We deliberately bought a bigger block with the intention of subdividing it when we retire.
This will give our siblings the opportunity to live here and maybe one or two others, who will be able to enjoy country life.
It would also give me and my partner some financial freedom in our twilight years to travel or treat medical conditions. Is this too much to ask?
I estimate the proposed change will cost us personally a lot of money. I cashed in our life insurances
and used this money and all our savings to buy this place 12 years ago, telling my partner we had no worries as the land would look after us in the future.
We are gutted. Our son who always wanted to build a house here is gutted. My sister who wished to live here is also gutted. All we can do is hope that submissions we have presented to the council will see some of the heavy-handedness of these proposed rules not applied to smaller farms or farmlets.
In almost all my observations of lifestyle blocks, farming activities, e.g. livestock and poultry, are reared.
Councils are not taking into consideration that often these blocks are only partially class 1 or class 2 soils, with the balance in hill, gully or poorer soil types, so they should not come under a blanket zoning, but should be individually assessed.
We don’t have the same financial backup as large scale farmers, but we all have the same family and life issues.
• Keith Hay owns a lifestyle block near Wanganui.
Subdivision and longer round length has transformed George and Peggy Morrison’s Northland drystock farm into a highly profitable operation. The farm was the subject of a recent Beef + Lamb NZ field day.
Farmers are reiterating their call for councils to end property value-based rating.
THE FONTERRA Shareholders' Council says the final payout of $6.16 ($5.84 farmgate milk price and 32c dividend) for a fully shared-up farmer was an accurate reflection of the season.
The Fonterra Shareholders Council admits that it its communication strategy during the TAF process was not up to scratch.
The Fonterra Shareholders' Council has recommended farmers do not vote in favour of the shareholder proposal which is to be put forward at the annual meeting in December.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
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.
