Despite being notified in October 2016 the plan was derailed late that year when Hauraki iwi objected to part of the catchment being included, subject to that iwi’s claim over its ownership.
That required the plan to be effectively split with the 12% or 120,000ha of the catchment affected by the claim becoming subject to negotiation between iwi and the council on Healthy Rivers conditions, before being re-notified.
But Waikato Federated Farmers president Andrew McGiven said farmers are conscious the plan has some specific dates in it requiring them to submit nitrogen reference points by March next year.
“There would be some pressure there to push those dates out if the time delays continue.
“However, there is both good and bad in the delays we have experienced so far,” he said.
The downside is that despite not being fully passed the plan has been notified so farmers are stuck for now with the conditions under that notification.
However, the upside is that the delay has given groups opposed to aspects of the plan time to formulate more well-informed and researched submissions to the commissioners at hearing time.
“We basically still have the original plan but it has been about tweaking it to change to more of a sub-catchment approach to managing nutrient losses.
“We are putting together a good case to take forward.
“We are in the process where in three weeks we will take the plan out to members to see what they think. Once done we can take it to the other Healthy Rivers stakeholders.”
A key focus for Feds is to reduce the nitro-centric focus and include other nutrient and bacterial flows into the river system.
“But we still believe the nitrogen reference point is a good idea. Farmers need to know where they sit on the curve for nitrogen losses in the catchment.”
Four commissioners were appointed to the hearing panel in February and are expected to begin hearing submissions in the second half of this year.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand environmental policy manager Cordina Jordan said her main concern over the appointments is the lack of a commissioner with an ecology background.
“This is a concerning absence given the technical aspects of this plan that relate specifically to making the rivers healthier.
“It has always been about ecology first.”
Meantime, B+LNZ is engaged in pre-hearing consultations with the council to help improve understanding before the hearings begin.
“And these have proven to be very positive. From there we will be working out a plan to re-engage with the wider farming community on our proposal.”
The B+LNZ proposal contains elements similar to Federated Farmers, seeking more of a sub-catchment approach to nutrient management that does not handicap lower nitrogen-emitting farmers as significantly.
A regional council spokeswoman said the resubmitted portion of the plan that had been disputed by iwi was due to return to council for review.
She was unable to confirm when that would be finalised or what the details of any changes to it would be.
“But we would hope to have that go to committee in a few weeks and the council will notify from there.”
She confirmed the dates farmers face around the reference points were under pressure.
“But it is too early at this stage to say whether they will have to change or not.”
