Jason Herrick: Education over regulation

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Opinion: When it comes to winter grazing and freshwater farm plans, the Government should leave it to the experts - farmers, Southland Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesman Jason Herrick writes.

For as long as I can remember, poorly thought out policies and regulations have been coming from central government through Ministers and Ministries.

Just because one person thinks something is a great idea - does it really mean that it is fit for purpose or for the greater good? I think not.

That is how and why we end up with the disasters we as farmers have been experiencing, particularly in the past three years.

The ideology of certain individuals has done nothing but create incorrect perceptions of an industry that provides a massive chunk to the New Zealand economy.

Take winter grazing, for example.

The Government should have implemented its freshwater farm plans (FWFP) sooner.

Why?

Because the rules mean farmers who graze livestock over winter, and don't meet permitted activity criteria, either have to get an FWFP certificate or apply for a resource consent from November 1 this year.

As a result, thousands of farmers will now need to apply for a resource consent for next year's winter grazing - a move that will create significant issues for regional councils because:

(a) they will have thousands of consents to process and

(b) they don't have the resources to do so in time.

For the past three years, farmers have been subjected to slander, abuse and outright bully tactics from our so-called leaders.

They're trying to solve a problem that can only be corrected by the individuals who actually partake in it.

Over the years I have been involved in farming, I have seen my fair share of significant weather events.

And, do you know what? Every time new challenges were presented we, as farmers, learned to adapt and change the systems we had, to get better outcomes.

Believe it or not, this is called education.

What I have seen, especially in Southland in the last three years around winter grazing, has been nothing but farmers willing to watch, listen and learn from the industry leaders.

Leaders who were already doing what was needed to get positive change.

All the positive management outcomes being reported from regional councils can only be attributed to one thing - education.

So why are we still going down the path of regulatory garbage, that is only going to create more office paperwork filling out applications and reports?

Farmers just want to get on with the job, working with the land and their animals.

Instead, we are faced with regulations designed to force farmers into eventually farming by consent.

I say leave it to the individuals that know their industry the best and let farmers do what is needed for the whole country to get the best outcomes.

It has been proven, especially recently, that the only way to get positive and better outcomes is to let the farmers do it themselves.

Plain and simple - it can only be referred to as education instead of regulation.