Organised by a group of concerned Southland farmers and agribusinesses, Groundswell NZ, as of earlier this week, had collected 1950 signatures.
Groundswell spokesperson Laurie Paterson says it closes on January 30 and will then be presented to Parliament.
Depending on the response of politicians, Paterson says the group is prepared to continue their campaign to change what he calls unworkable freshwater regulations that have alienated the farming community.
Paterson says the petition has kept the issue front of mind for politicians and sent a signal that farmers and those in rural communities consider it poor policy.
“Whether anything comes of it (the petition), I don’t know but at the end of the day at least people are thinking about it and talking about it.”
Paterson says the group is not against Government guidelines to improve water quality but are opposed to their methods.
A far better solution would be to support and encourage catchment groups which would acknowledge that neither catchments nor farms are identical and cannot be treated the same.
Additional steps being proposed by Groundswell NZ include a public meeting or action day at the Southern Field Days site at Waimumu near Gore on February 11.
Ahead of that, the group has been seeking the mood of farmers with a questionnaire on their Facebook page.
It is seeking reactions such as whether farmers will apply for resource consent for activities currently permitted, support for a tractor protest in March and whether farmers will withhold rates in protest should regional councils start taking enforcement action.
