Farmers probe freshwater stats and plans
Accusations of figures being ‘‘plucked from the air’’ and calls for more time to submit were heard at a lively Timaru meeting on water quality on Thursday night.
The second packed meeting of the day heard Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor speak on the Government’s proposed reforms on freshwater.
When asked about the proposed limits on nitrates, both ministers gave an assurance the proposed figure would be worked on later.
More than one person at the meeting suggested proposed nitrate limits were arbitrary and ‘‘plucked from the air’’. However, Parker said a baseline needed to be set.
‘‘From my perspective we want to stop it getting worse, we want to turn it around and then set the course for improvements over the following generation,’’ Parker said.
‘‘We are not trying to return New Zealand to some nirvana before we had cities and farms but we do want to get something closer to what we had in the 1990s.
‘‘Even with the best will in the world, it is going to take a long time to put this in place.’’
Arable farmer Jeremy Talbot told Parker and O’Connor there was ‘‘no slack in the system’’.
‘‘You have done so much damage to the farming environment in the last three weeks. Confidence is so low in the farming community.
‘‘Have a good, hard look at yourselves,’’ Talbot said.
O’Connor said he understood the pressures. ‘‘But don’t blame us.
‘‘What we are trying to do is give everyone certainty. We are attempting to have an upward trajectory in water quality. We have had a downward trajectory and we can’t continue with that,’’ he said.
O’Connor gave an assurance all submissions on the proposals would be taken into account.
Waimate District councillor Tom O’Connor told the ministers farmers and rural people were feeling under siege. ‘‘Rural people in South Canterbury are in the middle of lambing and calving, we have local body elections, we have Environment Canterbury’s Plan Change Seven (PC7) to respond to, we have the Government’s new initiative for a National Policy Statement for Fresh Water and World Cup Rugby all at once and there are only so many hours in a busy farmer’s day.’’
Parker said he was ‘‘open to the possibility’’ of calling in ECan’s PC7 and invited submissions on the suggestion.
Farmer Mark Adams expressed concern about the proposed moratorium on any further development.
‘‘Have you thought about what dropping the anchor will mean?’’
Parker said the best thing for the environment was to ‘‘hold the line’’ and ensure there was no further degradation. O’Connor said he was confident farmers would be able to meet the proposed changes. ‘‘I don’t think we should underestimate the ability of farmers to continually move forward. We are bloody good at adapting,’’ he said.