Federated Farmers: Tukituki saga meanders on

All farms have to provide a Farm Environmental Plan, a nutrient budget, a Phosphorus Management Plan, exclude stock from waterways and comply with LUC leaching limits to meet the permitted rules.

Federated Farmers participated in the High Court appeals on the Tukituki Plan Change and the judge released his decision late last year.

Fish and Game, Forest and Bird, and the Environmental Defence Society appealed against the Board of Inquiry decision. Their appeals were limited to points of law because the fast-track process goes straight to the High Court after a board decision.

These appellants had 12 questions of law between them put to the High Court judge, mainly to do with how the rules managed nitrogen levels in the Tukituki catchment.

The judge found in favour of the appellants regarding three appeal points, but declined the rest.

Federated Farmers joined with other agricultural organisations to provide farmers with united representation in court. We reminded the judge this should not be treated just as a theoretical exercise, as farmers will be affected daily by the decision and rules.

In the board's final decision, it amended its draft decision by deciding to not require all farms in a sub-catchment to apply for resource consent if the in-stream DIN (Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen) level is over the DIN limit.

This meant that even farms complying with the on-farm LUC (Land Use Capability) nitrogen leaching rule would not need consent, as if we were responsible for our neighbours' leaching as well as our own.

All farms have to provide a Farm Environmental Plan, a nutrient budget, a Phosphorus Management Plan, exclude stock from waterways and comply with LUC leaching limits to meet the permitted rules.

The judge's decision means the board made two errors of law around the changes to its draft decision, and he has directed the board to reconsider the rule linking on-farm leaching to the in-stream limit, and devise an appropriate mechanism for monitoring the amount of DIN that enters the Catchment Area.

The board will also reconsider its terms of consent for the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

The judge declined an appeal point that food production is not an appropriate value.

Federated Farmers is pleased that primary production will continue to be recognised in the objectives, as clearly it is important to the land use in the Tukituki

The board now has to reconsider a small part of its decision and is presently considering the scope of the reconsideration and what sort of procedures it should adopt when it reviews the matters the High Court referred to. It also indicated it expects the parties to the High Court proceedings to discuss the proposed wording of the rule and explore whether any common ground can be reached.