Rangiora dairy farmer and farm management consultant Dave Ashby is chairman of the Waimakariri zone committee, which recommended policy to Environment Canterbury for a local land and water plan change. The proposed plan change 7 is now up for public submissions.
Ashby is meantime stepping down as zone committee chairman.
“I need to concentrate on my farm and business. Over 80 meetings and workshops over two years is a large commitment and it’s now time to stick to the knitting,” he said.
He will remain on the zone committee at this stage but is very concerned about the direction the plan is taking.
It proposes strengthening stock exclusion rules to include open drains, artificial watercourses and springs in addition to rivers and streams. It will apply to all farmed cattle, deer and pigs in Waimakariri District on land below an altitude of 350m.
While the impact on downland intensive land users will be limited, more extensive properties are likely to affected, Ashby said.
The big challenges for affected dairy properties are a 15% nitrogen reduction by 2030, beyond existing Good Management Practice (GMP) targets.
Ashby said it is critical to get ECan’s nutrient calculator right, particularly the newly-introduced Overseer FM, as well as associated irrigation and fertiliser measurements. Farmers need to have confidence in the numbers generated by the tools.
“At the moment we have no confidence in the portal.”
Other hooks in the proposed Waimakariri plan include a dedicated Ashley coastal estuary zone. The zone committee discussed an Ashley estuary and coastal zone but shelved the concept in its zone implementation programme addendum (Zipa).
The coastal zone is predictable and a no-brainer given the cultural significance and international importance of the Ashley estuary but should have been included in the initial Zipa and tested through numerous community meetings run by the committee rather than being added post-Zipa.
Ashby thought the coastal estuary zone was a good idea but there was no need to target properties under 10ha.
“As I understand, such land use consents would include a farm environment plan but not a nutrient budget nor baseline. The farm environment plan would then be audited within 12 months, needing to obtain an audit grade of B or better.”
That would add further cost to landowners in the zone, particularly small landholders because most farmers in the zone already have resource consents.
“At $2350 deposit per application and cost of preparation of farm environment plans and possibly use of a planning consultant you are still looking at a cost of $5000-$6000 to obtain a resource consent plus $1000 for audit within 12 months.
“This process is costing a lot of money on paperwork which may be better directed towards education and riparian management,” Ashby said.
He acknowledged the proposed plan change is consistent with other Canterbury land and water zones such as Selwyn Te Waihora but is worried about the future of lowland farming in Waimakariri once the plan is adopted.
Regional planning should be more about implementation and working with landowners to achieve environmental outcomes rather than rules.
Costs are going up and farmers have to be moving forward to stand still, he said.
Unfortunately, regulators seem to assume all farmers with an average age over 50 are computer literate.
“This process will mean more money is spent on consultants when it should be doing stuff, eg for me riparian management and planting, sediment traps etc.”
Ashby said his approach to policy-making has always been “if you are not at the table you’re on the menu”.
He predicts heated debate through the public submission process and urges everyone affected to make a submission. If all sides contest the policy strongly it might be that the zone committee got the balance about right, he said.
