Farmers demand simpler freshwater rules
Farmers are urging the Government to simplify freshwater farm plans and make the whole process simpler and more affordable for them.
A $300 million project has been signed to try and prevent sediment loss from land to sea at Kaipara Harbour.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government, councils and Kaipara residents recognises an equal partnership between iwi and councils to undertake the Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme.
The programme is predicted to create around 300 new jobs; 200 for direct farm work such as fencing streams and wetlands, establishing water reticulation systems, preparing and planting land, weeding, and hill country stabilisation, and another 100 in the rural sector for nurseries, fencing manufacture, and farm advisory services.
Minister for the Environment David Parker signed the agreement with stakeholders this month.
Joint governance committee chair Tame Te Rangi says the committee will oversee a yet-to-be established entity charged with delivery of the 10-year Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme.
“One of our first priorities will be deciding the spend for the programme’s first year.
“We know there are many strands of the programme that are ready to go now, and these are what we’ll concentrate on first.
“We’re effectively carving out new history – this type of programme has never been done before – so it’s important we get the right logistics and processes in place and balance that with urgent action to give the harbour the help it needs.”
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff describes the agreement as a turning point for the restoration of the Kaipara Harbour.
“It represents all parties coming together to address the siltation and degradation of the Kaipara and the biggest-ever commitment of funds to remediate that damage,” he says.
“It’s a shared commitment to stop the erosion of the land which is devastating New Zealand’s largest harbour, and to begin to restore and preserve the harbour as a major fish-spawning and recreational asset,” Goff says.
Northland Regional Council Chair (and deputy chair of the joint committee) Penny Smart says it is important to recognise that landowners and community groups are already working to improve the environment, but resourcing has been a constant struggle.
The new government funding of $100 million for the first six years will help bring us together and enable large-scale and targeted progress to be made, Smart says.
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.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.