All properties in the Tukituki over four hectares are required to have a Farm Environment Management Plan. It is one of the first catchments in New Zealand to require FEMPs. Photo / NZME
All properties in the Tukituki over four hectares are required to have a Farm Environment Management Plan. It is one of the first catchments in New Zealand to require FEMPs. Photo / NZME
Hawke's Bay Regional Council says an educational approach rather than a punitive one has been successful in increasing farm compliance in the Tukituki area.
A Farm Environmental Management Plan (FEMP) is a compulsory document for all properties that are four hectares or more in the Tukituki catchment under Hawke's BayRegional council's Tukituki Plan (Plan Change Six).
A FEMP summarises the potential risks in a farming operation and describes how these risks will be managed and reduced over time.
The Tukituki catchment FEMPs are on a three-year cycle, with the most recent deadline being May 31, 2021.
Katrina Brunton, HBRC Policy & Regulation Group Manager, said a number of factors, including Covid-19 and a review of nitrogen modelling tool Overseer in 2021, made it challenging for landowners to meet the deadline.
"Less than 70 FEMPs are due to be reviewed and resubmitted to the regional council at this stage.
"Many of those who did not resubmit a FEMP were new owners of properties since 2018, so an educational approach was appropriate."
She said the number of properties facing compliance action has been reduced from 95 to 12 since May last year.
"Our first response is education to landowners about the benefits of a FEMP – and this has been a successful approach with most landowners."
David Reynolds, Tukituki farmer and approved FEMP provider, said while he was able to manage his smaller client base, some dedicated FEMP providers were against the single deadline which created a rush once every three years and very little business the other two years.
He said spreading out the deadlines for FEMP reviews three years after a property's previous submission, rather than a single shared deadline, made more sense.
"In the long term it wouldn't be any problem at all because the plans would still be reviewed every three years."
Tukituki farmer Bruno Chambers in 2016 in a paddock of chicory and plantain. He has concerns about bottle necking in the process of resubmitting a FEMP. Photo / NZME
Brunton said the council was continually working with FEMP providers to improve the process.
"May 31 last year was the deadline, however we accepted resubmissions up to 12 months before. The Tukituki Catchment Plan stipulates when FEMPS are due and this can't be changed unless the whole plan is reviewed," she said.
Tukituki farmer Bruno Chambers said he was supportive of FEMPs and what they were designed to achieve, but he had concerns about the cost to farmers from the growing list of resource consents and documentation required.
"The costs that are going to be put on farmers going forward are still a bit unknown. Individual farms could be facing bills of $100,000 or more."
He submitted his reviewed FEMP ahead of the deadline last year, but he said it took six months to process.
"Even when farmers do front up and try and get their FEMP in on time, there is a problem with the number of people who are able to do them and quite a long waiting list."
Brunton said landowners were more engaged and aware about the requirements for a FEMP and the process, and didn't need as much prompting to submit their FEMPs.
She said in cases where landowners who did not submit a FEMP the regional council would use the enforcement tools of the RMA to issue an abatement notice requiring them to submit a FEMP by a particular date.
She said failure to comply with an abatement notice can result in an infringement notice being issued.
