Farmers fined for dirty dairying

Two Bay of Plenty farmers have been fined a total of nearly $60,000 for dirty dairying.

Fantastic Farms Limited was fined $10,000 on each of four charges relating to incidents where discharged dairy effluent entered the Waiteti Stream catchment near Rotorua.

Wildhaber Wench & Co and Lucas Wildhaber were also charged for effluent leaking into the catchment, and were fined $16,800 for two charges.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council chief executive Bill Bayfield said the sentencing showed that the goalposts had moved in relation to new penalties for dirty dairying after October 1 2009.

Since that date, fine levels have increased from a maximum of $200,000 for any party, to a new maximum of $300,000 for an individual or $600,000 for a company.

Mr Bayfield said both cases highlighted the need for farmers to manage their systems so they worked well at all times of the year, including during staff shortages, calving and in rain.

"We've created some great tools in conjunction with Federated Farmers, Fonterra and DairyNZ to help farmers to maintain compliance," he said.

"Fonterra and DairyNZ also have people on the ground to support farmers in improving their systems, which we encourage people to use."

- NZPA