Rowarth appointed DairyNZ deputy chair
DairyNZ has appointed Jacqueline Rowarth as its first deputy board chair.
DairyNZ says it’s backing changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA).
DairyNZ wants it to deliver reduced compliance costs for farmers, increase efficiency and improve environmental outcomes.
Chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says a comprehensive reform of the RMA is long overdue and would be a positive step not only for farmers but all New Zealanders.
“The RMA has become too unpredictable and inefficient for applicants. Farmers will be keen to see this reform deliver a process which is faster, simpler and less costly,” he says.
But unlike Federated Farmers, Mackle believes that potentially replacing the RMA with two separate pieces of legislation for environment and planning makes a lot of sense. He says it will deliver better outcomes for farm environments, which face different issues than our urban counterparts and believes that a separate environment act would also support clear and efficient environmental rule settings.
“The proposal for each region to put forward a combined development plan has some merit. A regional view could support better decision-making on issues such as the appropriate use of land to lock up carbon and the opportunities to support land use flexibility through new irrigation,” he says.
Mackle says DairyNZ wants all political parties to reflect seriously on these recommendations and to work quickly on achieving meaningful reform in the next term of Parliament.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
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