Alarm bells ringing
Southland farmers who turned up at a public meeting about the Government’s freshwater proposal left feeling disappointed at how it was run and at the information provided.
About 150 people packed a club room in Winton, with at least another 100 outside, to listen to the Ministry for the Environment’s water director, Martin Workman, as he outlined the proposal yesterday.
It was clear farmers were angry – not only about parts of the proposal, but also about its delivery, the short consultation period and the fact that only two public meetings have been held in Southland during the agriculture industry’s busiest time with lambing and calving.
Winton farmer Mary Witsey said the lack of understanding at the meeting was alarming and many farmers were in shock, saying that they were more concerned than ever.
The lacklustre performance of ministry representatives, who were unable to answer even some of the most basic questions, coupled with the fact that at least 14 questions from the floor remained unanswered due to time restraints, left many feeling that the meeting was a sham, Witsey said.
People from across the region, who had sacrificed time on their farms to come to the event, including one man who had driven three hours to attend and was then shut out because the venue was full, said they felt
insulted at the lack of information on offer, she said.
‘‘The total absence of any detailed economic analysis within the report, along with the exclusion of industry representatives like DairyNZ from the science and technical advisory groups involved in putting the proposals together, also rings alarm bells,’’ Witsey said.
‘‘Many of us are now left feeling dismayed, uncertain and really concerned at the implications of these proposals on farming in this region.’’
Workman said the Government needed to take into account what its ability was to achieve healthy waterways.
‘‘There is a lot of concern about the freshwater proposal and we are listening to farmers. I knew there would be a lot of interest from the farming community,’’ he said.
‘‘I just want to reiterate that we are planning to come back to Southland but we don’t have the details yet. We are recognising the good work that many farmers are already doing.’’
An Aparima dairy farmer said he couldn’t believe that the likes of DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand had been excluded from the development of the policy.
‘‘Why have we not looked at what the economic effects are going to be? Why have we got a bloody six-week consultation process going on?’’
The farmer also criticised data in the proposal relating to crops grown in Southland, Otago and Canterbury. ‘‘I went home last night and worked out those figures. It came to about 2 1⁄2 million tonnes of dry matter, enough feed to winter about 5 1⁄2 million cows. There aren’t 5 1⁄2 million cows in New Zealand.’’
A Wyndham sheep farmer said the timing of the meeting was ‘‘bloody disgraceful’’ as dairy farmers were going into calving and sheep farmers into lambing.
A dairy farmer was also worried about the 5-metre setback rules in the proposal and the practicalities of that.
‘‘We’ve got a dairy farm and, like many other people here, we have actually fenced all our water basin, planted them out and are currently doing some more plantings,’’ the farmer said.
‘‘Are you implying that we actually have to pull our fences out and then move them back 5 metres and put more existing planting?’’
Workman said the intent of the Government’s proposal was to get good water quality, and if shifting fences wasn’t the best way of doing that then the ministry wanted to hear from farmers.
After the meeting, Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell said the large crowd that gathered for the meeting showed the depth of people’s concerns.
A balanced result would require individuals to say how the proposal affected them, he said, and there was a risk that might not happen because the consultation period was too short.
Under the Government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, farmers are being asked to have a plan that addresses freshwater, to apply for resource consent before changing to more intensive land use, and to exclude stock from rivers, wetlands and lakes.