Winter grazing frustration building

Federated Farmers’ national board member Colin Hurst admits frustration is a factor with winter grazing requirements.
Hurst, who is Federated Farmers’ winter grazing spokesperson and an arable farmer in South Canterbury, said it was clear that farmers should carry out winter grazing in a responsible manner.
And in no way were farmers being encouraged to break the law by refusing to get winter grazing consents.
“But when pathways were limited and full of roadblocks, people simply become frustrated,” Hurst said in a Federated Farmers’ press release.
For the past two years, the Government has promised that farmers wanting to undertake winter grazing would have three pathways available to them – a permitted activity pathway, a certified farm plan pathway, and a resource consent pathway.
But no pathway had been confirmed by the Government this year in readiness for the 2023 winter.
“Despite these promises, the alternative farm plan pathway is not available and is not expected to be ready for some time,” Hurst said
Beef + Lamb NZ’s environment policy manager, Heather McKay, said they were disappointed at the Government’s response.
She said it was important farmers understood what a permitted activity was and when they might need to apply for a resource consent.
McKay said the activities the intensive winter grazing regulations covered included the area of crop permitted, the proximity of crops to waterways, the re-establishment of vegetation after livestock had finished grazing, pugging, and the protection of critical source areas and slope.
“The slope regulation is one that farmers would need to consider as winter forage crops can only be established without a consent on land that is 10 degrees or less, determined by measuring the slope over 20 metres,” she said
Foundation for Arable Research said farmers should continue with their planning and planting for next season while they identified how their activity fits within the regulations.
They should also be planning how to become compliant.
Hurst said the regulations left thousands of farmers requiring a resource consent to comply with rules, with the Government having estimated that 10,000 farmers – at about $2000 each – would need to get a resource consent to undertake winter grazing.
Federated Farmers has called for the regulations to be delayed until the farm plan pathway was available to avoid the consent burden on councils and farmers.
- By Pat Deavoll
