Parker is confident the new package of freshwater rules is not only fit for purpose, it’s essential for New Zealand’s future – but modifications are possible if it can be shown that they are necessary.
He says there have already been changes to a technical detail in respect of new pugging rules, while proposed dissolved inorganic nitrogen limits were not included in the final package.
“We’ll always be able to improve details but some of the critics pick on little details like a scab and then try to say that the whole package is flawed because of their criticism of it. That’s just wrong,” he said.
“We’re absolutely confident that this package overall is a very good package, and a necessary package given the problems that we’ve seen in our waterways and continue to see.”
Farmers can expect to see changes to the mapping involved around the new low-slope rules and the need for fencing in certain areas.
Parker agrees that the maps used at present need to be improved but they were the best available at the time regulations were drafted.
However, funding has now been put aside to utilise more accurate, state-of-the-art, Lidar (light detection and ranging) data.
Lidar uses aerial 3D mapping to provide detailed computerised maps, showing varieties in slope that can be better used for management purposes by farmers and by regional councils.
Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor recently met with Southland farming and regional council representatives, along with others from Fish & Game, to discuss the new winter grazing rules and the reasons for them.
He says discussions were constructive but changes to some farmers’ current practices will have to be made.
“In Southland the number of cows has gone from 50,000 to 650,000 cows and what might have been okay with 50,000 cows, doesn’t work when you’ve got 650,000 cows,” he said.
“We know that (in Southland) the estimated loss of topsoil to waterways and estuaries is about 150,000 tonnes per annum and that done poorly, a single hectare of winter grazing left exposed in a rain event can lose tens of tonnes of sediment to waterways.”
The National Environment Standard stipulates that done in a specified way to a specified scale it’s a permitted activity but beyond that it’s not and farmers will need to apply for approval to the regional council.
“We’ve discussed why that’s necessary, and how that could be made practical,” Parker said.
There were, however, some sticking points.
“Farmers said they don’t like having to apply for resource consents and that’s a position they stuck to,” he said.
“And they don’t think the November 1 replanting date is practical.”
On the plus side, he says the Southland representatives are embracing farm plans.
“They are really buying into them, including audited farm plans, which is good,” he said.
He does not buy into the theory that his role as Environment Minister advocating the regulations with their potential increase in on-farm compliance costs, is at odds with his job as Trade Minister, with the primary sector a leading light keeping the country afloat economically.
“It’s quite the reverse,” he said.
He says our trade agreements all have provisions relating to sustainability that won’t change in future agreements.
We’re negotiating a free trade agreement with Europe at the moment and they’ve got a real focus on environmental outcomes.
“They’ve got their own challenges with nitrates, for example. Germany and the Netherlands are under pressure from the European Commission to reduce the nitrate pollution of their waterways. And they are,” he said.
“They expect us to be doing the same. And we are.”
He says NZ primary exporters would be in a much more vulnerable position in negotiations with Europe if the country was not addressing environmental problems.
“It’s still a tough negotiation but we can stand there with hand on our heart saying that we are trying to do the right thing environmentally,” he said.
“We’re not perfect but we’re better than most, and we’re constantly trying to improve rather than resting on our laurels.
“It also flows through to price. NZ, for even our bulk commodities, we get a higher price than our competitors and that’s for reasons that go beyond food safety.
“It’s partly food safety and quality but it’s also partly our environmental reputation.
“When you travel overseas and you see NZ products sold, it’s always with photos of our environment, with our beautiful green paddocks and our beautiful mountains and our waterways.”
He says there is no doubt that branding is relied on to get products to market and to maximise their price.
“So, I see the two (portfolios) as entirely consistent,” he said.
