Editorial: Too soft on rural issues?

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

Most people would agree on the importance of farming to New Zealand - indeed, many would see it as our economic base.

But surely no one would suggest that the industry - however big its contribution to gross domestic product, however substantial the export dollars it earns - should be given carte blanche to act as it likes.

In the areas of animal welfare and pollution of the environment, farming is vulnerable.

On television on Thursday night, Seven Sharp revisited the story about cruelty to bobby calves which caused outrage last year, and revealed that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) had been sitting on a report into such practices that dated back to 2011.

The report was strongly critical of some practices on our farms and recommended a number of changes. A former MPI worker interviewed for the programme said none of these recommendations had been acted upon.

In his words, the ministry "likes to hide its mistakes".

The ministry tried to keep the report buried, telling Seven Sharp that to make it public would "damage the country's economy".

Does the MPI think that its job is just to look after the welfare of farmers? In fact, it has an important responsibility for the welfare of animals, and it cannot shrug that off just because it might cause some strife on the farm or adversely affect profits.

Closer to home, Horizons Regional Council is seeking to combat pollution of our waterways with its complex and lengthy One Plan which sets limits for the amount of nitrogen it is permissible to put into rivers and streams.

But as the Chronicle revealed on Wednesday, the council is struggling to stick to its own rules.

Forty per cent of farms in the region have failed to lodge the required resource consent by the agreed deadline, which was January 1. And the council is not exactly taking a hard line to get them to comply with the rules, though it did say enforcement action could be considered.

Of the 94 farms granted resource consent, 80 have been given the right to leach more nitrogen than the One Plan allows. This is called "discretionary consent".

In short, the One Plan is quite a long way from hitting its target and our water quality may suffer in the meantime.

Most of the councillors on Horizons are from the farming fraternity so again - as with the MPI - one wonders if too protective an arm isn't being put round the farming industry.