Environment tick for farmers

NRC's consent compliance monitoring samples all discharges to water and all aspects of the farming operation.

Northland's dairy farms have collectively reached their best recorded environmental performance although only 65 per cent of farms were fully compliant in the latest testing round.

That's still a big green tick for farmers' dedication to making a clean job of their dairying, says Northland Regional Council (NRC).

Federated Farmers Northland dairying chairman Ashley Cullen says while it's good news, improving water discharge and meeting compliance across the board "is still a work in progress".

Mr Cullen said the 35 per cent of farms that failed to comply may have had minor issues at the time of inspection.

"Overall this season has been a lot easier as in not so much water to deal with during the Spring and therefore less standing off of cows on feed pads."

But Mr Cullen fears the current low payout could affect farmers' ability to finance effluent system upgrades and compliance failure could be a big blow.

"Any heavy handed approach by council staff could push farmers who are under heavy stress financially over the edge. Extreme care and more of a carrot rather than a stick approach could work better."

Joe Carr, chairman of the NRC's Environmental Management Committee, said Northland appears to have lower compliance than other regions because the monitoring regime targets the four month post-August period of highest effluent loadings and systems' stress. Other regions spread their monitoring across the dairy season.

Mr Carr said 944 farms were visited by staff or contractors last season. Of the 697 farms with resource consent to discharge farm dairy effluent (FDE), 419 (60 per cent) fully complied, 188 (27 per cent) had minor compliance issues and 90 (13 per cent) were significantly non-compliant.

Mr Carr said the 13 per cent non-compliance rate was the lowest it had ever been. Last year, 139 farms (20 per cent) had significantly failed to comply.

While all stakeholders are trying hard, there is obviously still room for further improvement, Mr Carr said.

"However, it's pleasing to see the industry collectively lifting its game and making some real gains in terms of overall compliance and subsequent improvements in water quality.

"Our overall monitoring programme is very robust and identifies actual problems. We are then able to work with our farmers to address and improve issues. To that end, significant non-compliance in Northland is typically followed up with an advisory visit," Mr Carr said.

"If other regions applied the same rigour to their monitoring regimes, I honestly believe their results would be at best similar and probably much worse."