Waikato farm’s wetland project sets standard for environmental rules

Johan van Ras in part of the native wetland developed on his property. Photo / Steve Edwards

Waterway work on a Waikato farm could be used as the template for others to meet proposed environmental standards.

For the past five years, Johan and Kylie van Ras have turned areas of poor pasture production into native wetland.

This comes as an Environment Court decision is looming on appeals relating to a Waikato Regional Council plan that would set rules for agricultural land use to improve water quality in the Waikato and Waipā catchments.

“There is no getting away from it,” Johan, who farms along SH27 near Morrinsville, said.

He and Kylie run 215 cows through a 20-a-side herringbone shed on 66ha, with another two separate blocks on the property – 4.5ha and 2.5ha – “retired” to wetland.

While understanding the concerns of farmers in the areas affected by the proposed plan change, van Ras said financial assistance and advice were available.

For their own project, Johan and Kylie received funding through the Waikato Regional Council’s Lower Hauraki Catchment Scheme with an Environmental Protection Agreement and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ One Billion Trees Fund.

He said, “Farmers have the chance to act now” before there will be undoubted pressure on funding sources.

While not in the Waikato or Waipa catchments, he said the rules were likely to be extended to other waterways in the future.

“Farmer-to-farmer learning is the key.”

In his role as environmental specialist with DairyNZ, van Ras has been involved with the Pokaiwhenua Catchment Group in South Waikato.

The Pokaiwhenua Stream, a tributary of the Waikato River, runs from Karapiro to south of Tokoroa.

Waterway wellbeing

Working with Raukawa, the group “restore and enhance the wellbeing of the Pokaiwhenua stream and its catchment for the benefit of the community using matauranga Maori (understanding and knowledge) and western science”.

Van Ras said the team aimed to partner iwi with farmers who own land adjoining or near the stream and other interested parties on ways to improve water quality and reduce runoff, and highlight and enhance biodiversity in the stream and its catchment.

He is also part of the Waikato section of Dairy NZ’s Dairy Environment Leaders programme.

DairyNZ’s website says the programme supports “dairy farmer actions to encourage and influence a sustainable future”.

“Dairy Environment Leaders are dairy farmers who lead by example in reducing their environmental footprint, seek to support their fellow farmers to do the same, influence decision-makers to create fair and practical environmental policy, and share with the wider community the great work dairy farmers are doing.”

Van Ras said farmers can also seek help and advice from the Waikato Regional Council’s (WRC) Primary Sector Support and Engagement team (PIE Group), which played a role in waterway protection through the implementation of regional freshwater farm plans and providing online training resources for Farm Environment Plans.

Three waterways run through the van Ras property, ultimately feeding into the Piako River.

Van Ras said farmers learned about streams “from the other side of the fence”.

“Too much weight is placed on the pasture side,” he said.

“We need to balance it up.”

Johan and Kylie began a planting programme in 2021, with 15,000 trees now lining the Te Puninga waterway on their property.

Carex grasses are also integral to the edge of the stream-bank plantings, which strengthen the stream’s banks, provide habitat and most importantly, shade and cool the water.

“There’s so much research and evidence in the ‘Science of Shade’,” van Ras said.

He said the project was coming to fruition, with the return of native birds and fish to the property.

“Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust, our local mana whenua, and the wider community like this.

“In future, this will be a valuable biodiversity asset.”

Environment award

Johan and Kylie have been recognised for their commitment to reducing the farm’s environmental footprint.

They won the 2021 Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards supreme award, seeing the competition as a chance to influence change, advocate for farmers and share positive stories from the sector.

Van Ras said they remained committed to the environmental cause.

“It’s simply the right thing to do.”

He admits the work had not been easy.

“You have to make sacrifices, and it’s tough in the early days.

“It’s the same for every farmer.

“But in the long run, it’s worth it.”

Such long-term vision is something van Ras believed meshed with the regional council’s Plan Change 1 (PC1).

“We want to have productive, profitable farms that meet community wants and values for waterways,” he said.

“It’s not that onerous if you keep plugging at it over time.”

He said common sense needed to prevail in the WRC plan.

“A lot of detail has been agreed on.

“It’s now down to the finer bits and pieces.”

While the principle of the plan is “no-brainer”, he said farmers had been confused by the time the process had taken – PC1 was first notified by the regional council in 2016.