Beef + Lamb and DairyNZ staff will accompany council land sustainability officers on the flights and farmers identified as having potential issues will be offered advice on how to avoid damaging the environment.
Environment Southland land sustainability officer Karl Erikson says the initiative came out of discussions with industry leaders last year, which followed publicity from environmental and animal welfare activists who highlighted instances of what they termed poor winter grazing practice in Southland.
That also led to Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor convening a winter grazing task force.
Erikson it is about education not enforcement but the advice to farmers, being provided free, could change paddock selection criteria.
“We’re not going out to say ‘you shouldn’t have done it’. Rather we’re saying ‘this is the best way to do it’.”
The flights will be looking for buffer zones, critical source areas and slopes that could create overflow into waterways in winter.
Erikson says advice could include fencing a buffer area beside a waterway or changing the way a crop is fed.
“I am optimistic farmers will look at this as being a proactive offer with no obligation and because of that they will say ‘why not?’”
The two flights will focus on farms in eastern and western Southland where the undulating land is more likely to lead to environmental issues.
