Farmers are mobilising against a proposal by the Northland Regional Council (NRC) that would affect some 250,000ha of farming land in the North, or 40% of the area currently being farmed.
According to Farmers Weekly, the proposal “will send farmers to the wall…hill country grazing will not be a permitted activity and that they will need costly resource consents in the future.”
Under the proposal:
- Stock would be excluded from erosion-prone land and further limitations would be placed on vegetation clearance and earthworks.
- There would be greater fencing requirements around waterways and the size of the buffer zone extended.
- The discharging of dairy effluent from new farms would be prohibited and the discharge from existing farms would require a resource consent.
- Discharging domestic wastewater into waterways would be prohibited.
- Resource consent applicants for freshwater would be required to obtain cultural impact reports from tāngata whenua and take into account their cultural values.
- 20% of the water allocation would go to Maori.
NRC chairperson Tui Shortland says the proposals are about,
“Protecting the mauri (life force) of the wai, and restoring the balance between water, our environment and our communities…It puts the health of the water first, providing for human health needs second, and other uses of water third…The Plan Change supports tangata whenuato participate in managing freshwater and upholds our obligations as a Te Tiriti partner.”
Full details of the proposed Plan Change and how to make a submission can be seen at https://www.wai-it-matters.nz/
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