Dairy farmers in Southland will have to prove they are competent custodians of the land before they can convert more land to dairying, under new rules proposed by the Southland Regional Council.
Environment Southland chief executive Ciaran Keogh, says the new rules, if passed, will come into place before Christmas and will make dairying a discretionary activity.
This will mean farmers will have to prove they can comply with resource consents before converting land to dairy.
Mr Keogh says Southland has exhausted its ability to absorb farm waste and this is a mechanism to manage it.
However, dairy farmers are not impressed and say a property right is being taken away from them.
Federated Farmers Southland dairy rep Russell MacPherson says while it is dairy farmers who are making the most noise about the issue – it’s Southland sheep farmers who have the most to lose.
He says the new rules will not affect existing dairy farms and will drive up their land values.
"Now sheep farmers who are sheep farming who maybe want to sell, maybe they want to bring family back onto the farm, and they can’t do it under the sheep farming regime and want to convert, well they should be very concerned. Because these new rules will are going to limit your ability to do that."
Mr MacPherson says property rights are being stripped away from farmers and is disappointed Environment Southland has abandoned an effluent accord agreed to between farmers and the council three years ago.
"It gave farmers rules about the systems they had to use on different soil types for good environment outcomes. Now a lot of that has been thrown away totally."
The Southland region has been battling the impacts dairying has been having on its environment, particularly its waterways.In June, following a community outcry, Fonterra and Dairy NZ sent advisory teams into farms in Southland’s Waituna catchment to advise them on effluent management systems, environmental resource management and farms systems.
Fonterra also put up one million dollars to help clean up Waituna Lagoon.
