Former Feds boss fined for ‘carelessness’ on farm
A hefty fine has been handed down to former Southland Federated Farmers president Allan Baird, whose inaction on his dairy farm was ‘‘careless’’.
Baird and his two companies, Benlyon Ltd and Vendale Ltd, were fined a total of $39,600 when he appeared for sentencing in the Invercargill District Court yesterday.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to the three charges of discharging dairy effluent onto land on October 20, 2016, in circumstances that may result in the effluent entering a waterway.
Environment Court judge Brian Dwyer denied Baird’s application for a discharge without conviction.
Baird had informed Environment Southland staff on the day in question that dairy shed effluent from his farm’s irrigation system had discharged into a tributary of the Winton Stream.
Council officers found significant effluent ponding from the stationary irrigator and it was flowing overland into the waterway. A hay bale had been put into the waterway to try to contain the flow.
Inquiries established the large irrigator gun had been set to travel across a paddock and turn off automatically after four hours, but it was found early the next morning to have been operating in its original location after 16 hours.
This resulted in the ponding and overland flow, the judge said.
A farm worker had volunteered to restart the irrigator, which had shut down, but he misinterpreted the computer screen on the irrigator, which led to the problem.
Effluent had travelled at least 2.6km downstream and the waterway was discoloured, but the prosecution had not established any identifiable adverse effects on the waterway, the judge said.
However, his concern was the cumulative effects numerous individual discharges into waterways had on the environment.
‘‘This is yet another example of the discharge of dairy effluent into waters which are already contaminated by dairy effluent.’’
The ‘‘big problem’’ for Baird was the effluent had discharged for 16 hours without being noticed. ‘‘I know you had a manager away and you were very busy and shorthanded. ‘‘That’s the reality on the ground but, even allowing for that . . . in my view, it was very careless not to check the operation of the irrigator for 16 hours.’’
Baird’s lawyer, Hans van der Wal, said the effects of the incident had been significant for Baird. These included him withdrawing his candidature for the National seat in the CluthaSouthland electorate while there was a significant risk a conviction would affect Baird’s ability to further serve his community.
‘‘The stigma itself is significant.’’
Baird had gone through a restorative justice process in which he had undertaken various commitments, including paying towards the education of farmers on their environmental obligations.
Environment Southland lawyer Josh Shaw said there had been a degree of carelessness involved in the offending.
‘‘He [Baird] prioritised other matters and placed the management of the system in the hands of an untrained staff member.’’
The judge, when declining a discharge without conviction, said a conviction was not out of proportion to the seriousness of the offending.
After the hearing, Baird said he was disappointed, and would consider appealing the conviction. His conviction would not have helped to heal the rift between how Southland’s rural people felt they were treated when contaminants entered waterways compared to how urban authorities were treated, he said.
‘‘They are still able to continue doing what they are doing and have sewage enter fresh water and stormwater systems,’’ Baird said.
‘‘There’s been millions of dollars spent on farms to improve their infrastructure but we are still being prosecuted.’’
Baird stepped down as president of the Southland branch of Federated Farmers at its annual meeting in May.
‘‘This is yet another example of the discharge of dairy effluent into waters which are already contaminated by dairy effluent.’’ Environment Court judge Brian Dwyer