The advisory group, the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry for Primary Industries had been working positively together to make the regulations practical and effective, and DairyNZ was keen to see a decision announced on the outcome, Van der Poel said.
"It was pleasing for the group to host both Minister David Parker and Minister Damien O'Connor in Southland last year. It was appreciated they took the time to understand the issues on the ground."
Listen to Rowena Duncum interview Jim van der Poel on The Country below:
The Southland Advisory Group is made up of two farmer representatives, as well as representatives from DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Environment Southland, Federated Farmers and Fish and Game.
It was formed after farmers expressed their concerns about their ability to implement the regulations, wanting fair and pragmatic solutions.
"We have engaged in good faith and now we are calling on them to respond in kind with a fair and timely outcome for farmers, to provide certainty and enable them to start working to meet the new requirements," Van der Poel said.
Southland dairy farmer and advisory group member Paul Turner said the group had been working well together and having productive discussions on behalf of all farmers.
"It is important for farmers to have clarity around what they are doing for next season and beyond in terms of wintering practices, investment decisions and logistics on the farm. People are holding back because they are unsure what to do from a regulatory perspective."
While people were feeling positive about the proposed changes, Turner said replacing sowing date and pugging recommendations with protecting critical source areas, would ensure better outcomes for waterway health.
"The ability to use your farm environment plan's wintering module also enables farm-specific mitigations, which in turn will lead to better freshwater outcomes."
A summary of the Southland Advisory Group recommendations:
The group agreed farm plans were the future for managing freshwater
While these were developed and rolled out, the group recommended work commenced immediately on a step that could be used in the interim – an Intensive Winter Grazing module. This would enable farmers to identify the specific risks on their property and identify the good management practices they implemented to mitigate the impacts on freshwater.
The pugging and resowing date conditions should be removed
The group also recommended a new measure which focused on the management of critical source areas.* Pugging and resowing rules would lead to perverse outcomes, but managing critical source areas would lead to improved environmental health. The recommendation suggested these areas were protected within intensively grazed areas through buffers.
For the advisory group report, go to Southland Advisory Group report.
* Critical source areas are low lying areas on farms such as gullies where water and nutrients can pool – creating a risk to water quality.
