A Northland helicopter company and a state-owned farm are likely to face court action this year for allegedly causing crop damage worth $300,000.
State-owned company Landcorp is one of three parties being prosecuted by the Northland Regional Council after spraydrift from the property allegedly damaged crops on other Kerikeri properties inOctober 2002.
The council is also prosecuting helicopter company Skyworks and the helicopter pilot.
Charges laid under the Resource Management Act allege that the operation led to the contamination of a tributary of the Kerikeri River with herbicide.
The council claims an unsuspecting commercial water company then supplied contaminated water from the tributary to several horticulturists in the Kerikeri area.
Horticulturists growing cucumbers, eggplants and tomatoes suffered an estimated $300,000 in damage as a result, prompting a council investigation in late November 2002.
The council's air-quality team leader, Paul Baynham, said the matter was likely to go before the court in June or July.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of $200,000 and/or up to two years in jail.
Mr Baynham said it was one of the most serious incidents the council had investigated in the past five years.
The allegations were technical in nature but essentially covered the alleged discharge of the herbicide to water, and the lack of adequate buffer zones between the land being sprayed and the tributary.
A number of horticulturists in the immediate area claim to have suffered significant financial losses and hardship, including one who said he lost his entire operation.
