A convoy of tractors drives into Auckland City to protest Government reforms in the agriculture sector. Photo / Michael Craig
A convoy of tractors drives into Auckland City to protest Government reforms in the agriculture sector. Photo / Michael Craig
OPINION
These frequently asked questions are focused on the key concerns expressed by some farmers about Government policy. They are needed because there are widespread misunderstandings and some misleading commentary.
Q: What is the state of our freshwater?
The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ have published the lateststate of the
environment report Our Freshwater 2020 which shows that 95-99 per cent of river length in urban, pastoral and exotic forest areas exceeds water quality guidelines. We have a
Improved farming practices (and better management of urban freshwater) can bring discharges within limits over time. That requires targeted regulation.
Railing against freshwater regulation is to seek license to continue to pollute.
Q: Are freshwater management obligations new?
There have been freshwater regulations and obligations since the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967. Catchment commissions, regional water boards and more recently regional councils have provided regulatory oversight of water takes and discharges (both
In 2008, the Land and Water Forum brought all stakeholders together to review the system on the back of the Dirty Dairying campaign. Other policy development entities – the Freshwater Leaders Group, Kahui Wai Māori and the Science and Technical advisory Group - followed.
From those collaborative processes, with extremely wide outreach to rural and farming communities and to industry entities, stronger national direction has been provided via National Policy Statements on freshwater management, initially by National (2011, 2014) then Labour (2017, 2020).
Farmers have been involved all along. It is untrue to say otherwise.
Q: Will farmers have to meet these NPS limits immediately?
No. the timeline requires regionalcouncils to notify new Freshwater Plans by end of 2024. They will set targets or timelines for reaching new limits.
The expectation is that it'll take a generation for some targets to be met. The National Environmental Standard on Freshwater (NES-F) does seek to hold the line and prevent things from getting worse.
Some farmers in Southland were critical of the new rule regarding Intensive Winter Grazing. The Government deferred the introduction of those obligations for 12 months and is rewriting the rules in conjunction with those farmers.
Currently there is the Freshwater Implementation Group (FIG) stood up within the Ministry for the Environment overseeing the policy roll-out and it has representations from iwi, key farmer entities and ENGOs on it. The Government is consulting on Farm Plans, a policy approach sought and supported by farming organsiations.
Overall, the freshwater reforms will take decades to bite and some environmental scientists say that is far too long. It is therefore extremely misleading for some farmers to say they haven't been involved and that the obligations bite hard right away.
Q: What about climate change obligations?
Farmers will be the sector most impacted by climate change. Extreme weather events, flooding, droughts, fires will be more common (note last week's floods). It is ironic that some in the sector most impacted are railing against government efforts to address the threats.
The public purse supports farmers hit hard so they should show some reciprocity and acknowledge we have a problem with adaptation.
With respect to farmer obligations to mitigate emissions, the Government decided against bringing agriculture (around 50 per cent of NZ's emissions) into the ETS and instead backed a primary sector initiative to design its own mitigation plan farm by farm: He waka eke noa.
The sector has until 2022 to get farmers to sign up and until 2024 to design that system. If the 2022 target isn't met, the plan is to bring agriculture into the ETS via processors.
The agriculture sector has had a very easy ride, with the heavy lifting being done by the rest of the economy, essentially subsidising farmers.
Tackling climate change needs every country in the world to act in concert including New Zealand. The likely small proportion of farmers opposing action on climate change haven't thought it through.
Q: What about these Significant Natural Areas and the proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity?
Councils have been obliged to protect significant ecological areas (SNAs) (such as wetlands or remnant forests) on private land since 1991.
Farmers and environmentalists came to together in a collaborative forum to design a National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPS IB) four years ago, initally under the National-led government.
This initiative sought to replace repetitive council-by-council appeals on SNAs with clear national direction to reduce litigation and provide clarity. The NPS IB is in draft form and will be released for another round of comment later this year.
Importantly, the NPS IB will be supplemented by so-called complementary measures, at the request of Federated Farmers, which will provide landowners with support. These measures are yet to be revealed but are likely to include rates relief and other financial incentives.
The draft NPS IB was supported by all parties included in the process including iwi, farmers and environmental groups. For Federated Farmers to now rail against it now is pure opportunism and unprincipled.
Gary Taylor. Photo / Supplied
Q: What's going on with resource management reforms?
All sectors agree that the RMA is no longer fit-for-purpose and needs replacing with new law.
The Government's proposals will reduce both red-tape and the number of plans (from over 100 to 14), provide greater certainty and clarity (thus reducing the number of consents required), identify environmental bottom-lines and shift the focus from environmental effects to positive outcomes. It will fold in all the existing national direction into a coherent and comprehensible national framework. This is all helpful to the productive sector.
• Gary Taylor is CEO of the Environmental Defence Society which is hosting Transforming Aotearoa: the Government's Environmental Reform Agenda, Christchurch, 4-6 August 2021.
