The Government's water proposals will not work as a one-size-fits-all plan when it comes to dairy and sheep and beef farmers, says Sam McIvor. The Beef+Lamb chief executive spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay, along with DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle about the Action Plan for Healthy Waterways which was announced yesterday.
While both Mackle and McIvor said they welcomed the idea behind the freshwater plan, they still have concerns for their industries.
Government figures showed the average annual cost on the proposals would be $9350 for a lowland dairy farm, but a hill country sheep and beef farmer could be looking at $14,850.
READ MORE:
• Tim Mackle: Time to recognise real progress made by dairy farmers
Fencing waterways was harder for hill country farmers and McIvor said Beef+Lamb NZ strongly rejected a land use change moratorium for sheep and beef farms.