Environmental questions have been raised over an innovative technique for turning waterlogged West Coast soils from low-value land into high-value dairy farms.
State-owned farmer Landcorp has pulled diggers off its West Coast dairy development at Cape Foulwind because of concerns the process is releasing sulphuric acid compounds.
Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly
said the council was concerned about sulphur released by flipping.
"In Australia it's been reported that where land has been developed in a similar way to this there's been sulphate leaching, which in turn turns into sulphuric acid, which in turn causes the soil to go acidic, which in turn stops grass growing."
He understood a Landcorp neighbour had some land where grass was not growing, which might or might not be because of the development.
"Our view is a rather more pragmatic one," he said. "If that's the bloody case, we'll just dump more lime on it."
Kelly said if the issue was not resolved within a few days, the company's latest farm development would be too late for this season.
"We're virtually at the stage of saying we're going to have to pull the pin on that development for this year," he said.
The hitch is the latest in a series of environmental consent problems for Landcorp at Cape Foulwind - the focus for the biggest farm development project in Landcorp's history.
Kelly said the company's $20 million budget for the project had "gone to hell in a hand bucket", and Landcorp had redirected some of its money to other areas.
The company is converting sheep and beef farms to dairying at Cape Foulwind, Mawheraiti, Weka and Nelson Creek, creating 30 new jobs on the farms and up to 400 direct and indirect jobs.
Pasture "flipping" involves bringing free-draining soils to the surface to turn wetland into lush pasture, doubling productivity.
- NZPA
Herald Feature: Environment
