Busiest contract yet for Horizons Regional Council’s erosion control programme

This farm in Rangitīkei is among those involved in Horizons Regional Council's Sustainable Land Use Initiative.

The Horizons Regional Council’s Sustainable Land Use Initiative has exceeded targets for completing whole farm plans and erosion control and reduction works for the 2022-23 financial year.

The Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI) protects the region’s hill country by engaging with farmers to reduce erosion on their land to help build resilience to storm events, improve water quality and reduce pressure on flood protection infrastructure downstream.

The past four-year contract period has been the busiest contract for SLUI so far, with a third of the programme’s 55,606-hectare total works completed to date achieved in that period.

Horizons catchment operations group manager Dr Jon Roygard said SLUI’s success was a testament to the efforts of several groups.

“SLUI is a highly collaborative effort between Horizons, farmers and central government. To date, the programme has produced 970 whole farm plans (WFP) – which guide work programmes - covering over 670,000ha, or about 30 per cent of the region,” Roygard said.

“SLUI’s funding comes from the Ministry of Primary Industries Hill Country Erosion Programme, ratepayers and landowners.”

Last financial year, the programme achieved its whole farm plan and erosion control works targets, with 25,067ha of whole farm plans completed, exceeding the target of 22,500ha, he said.

“The target for completed erosion reduction works was also exceeded - 3998ha of work was completed, 7 per cent more than the 3735ha goal. This is a great achievement and we thank all the farmers who have invested in SLUI,” Roygard said.

“Some of our region’s land is at higher risk of erosion due to its unique topography. By working with farmers to complete works on their farms and develop WFPs, we are identifying and addressing high-risk areas and reducing these risks.”

SLUI offers a variety of solutions for targeting land erosion.

“Through the programme, we are able to offer grants for stream fencing, pole planting, installation of sediment traps, fencing of existing bush remnants and reverting pasture to native cover as methods of protection.”

The programme has secured funding for another four-year contract.

“We have ambitious targets for our fifth contract, focused on completing works rather than farm plans, so we are encouraging landowners to reach out if they have works they wish to conduct,” Roygard said.

Landowners can contact Horizons’ land management team on freephone 0508 800 800 to discuss the grants available and options for their farm.

More information about SLUI is available at www.horizons.govt.nz/managing-natural-resources/land.