Dannevirke: Consent process 'stressful'

Tararua District councillor Tracey Collis

Going through the One Plan resource consent process is stressful for Tararua dairy farmers, Tracey Collis, a Tararua District councillor and farmer, says.

Mrs Collis told the Dannevirke News it had cost $110,000 to get everything done on her Eketahuna farm in anticipation of the One Plan requirements. This is in line with a Federated Farmers survey which shows the average dairy farmer in the Horizons region has spent more than $110,000 on environmental management in the past five years.

More than 22 dairy farms had been granted consents to farm in the Mangatainka catchment in southern Tararua, the first farming district to go through the process so far, a Horizons Regional Council representative said.

While Horizons figures show there have been two land use consents granted in the Tararua for conversion to dairying, Mrs Collis said she was unaware of any dairy conversions proceeding at the moment.

Dannevirke dairy farmer and Horizons councillor John Barrow believes most people are pretty happy.

"Going back four or five years ago, the One Plan was feared, but now I'm pretty relaxed, because it's [the plan] entirely workable."

Nick Peet, Horizons group manager, strategy and regulation, also told the Dannevirke News most farmers were positive about the One Plan consent process.

"There has been a change in Overseer [the nutrient budgeting tool used on farms] and I'm really pleased most people are making a conscious effort to reduce their nitrogen leaching," he said. "One of the hardest things is managing the nitrogen in the Overseer budgets and making sure we get it right first time, rather than rushing people."

Mr Peet conceded the consent process wasn't going as fast as anticipated.

"We realise the One Plan process is limiting dairy conversions in the Tararua too," he said.

With forecasted payouts for dairy farmers falling, Mr Peet said Horizons realised people had to budget for the work on their farms.

"There will always be some challenges and having a good lead in with work done by the Tararua Economic Impact Group and DairyNZ has been helpful," he said.

With farmers in the priority catchment of Mangatainoka passing through the consent process, Mr Peet said Horizons would know in a year's time how much the nitrogen leaching into the river had reduced.

"We respect farmers to make decisions on what they can and can't do," he said. "In general, farmers seem to be able to keep running their businesses and protecting water quality in our rivers and streams. And it's certainly much easier than what it might have been."

Mr Peet said Horizons was also putting in a process to understand how the One Plan affected the social and economic well-being of the district, including farm sales.

Dairy farmers in northern Tararua won't go through the One Plan consent process until 2016.

Dairy payout drop

Fonterra has cut its forecast farmer payout for 2014/15 to $4.70 per kilo of milk solids as ongoing global milk powder prices weaken.

The revised forecast, the fourth cut this year, is well down from last season's milk price of $8.40/kg.

Prices were down 1.1 per cent at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction last week and have fallen 50 per cent since February.

The GlobalDairyTrade price index is at its lowest level since 2009.