Friday, March 29, 2024

BLOG: Compliance paperwork must be streamlined

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News that more New Zealand farmers will need resource consents is alarming farming leaders who worry they’re being bogged down in red tape. Farmers here have often talked of the right to farm but an increased focus on our environment has brought with it new rules and regulations to abide by.
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The right to farm is an interesting concept to unpack.

A fisherman has a right to catch fish but doesn’t have the right to leak diesel into the sea.

A battery maker has the right to make batteries but doesn’t have the right to pollute the air with noxious chemicals or dispose of waste into the stormwater system.

Farmers have a right to farm the land. But they don’t own the air above them or the water in the river or the aquifer deep underground.

It’s only right that checks and balances exist to make sure things are being done in a way that is acceptable to the environment and the wider population.

What farmers can demand, though, is a fair deal. 

Duplication of reporting, opening up every farming task to opposition from vested interests and increased regulatory costs that have no discernible benefit are all a concern.

Yes, rules are needed but they need to be rules based on sound science and they need to be rolled out and managed in a way that provides clarity both to the farmers and those holding the microscope over them.

If there’s duplication, the various processes need to be streamlined. 

Farm environment plans and consent processes are all well and good but if a farmer is essentially doing the same thing over and over again to appease different regulatory bodies then no one wins.

That’s just time that could be spent out on the land making actual changes to improve farming systems.

Farmers know that to prosper they need to walk the walk on their environmental credentials.

But sometimes the simplest path is the best one.

Bryan Gibson

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