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OPINION: Farmer lobby Groundswell is mobilising farmers against the requirement to have freshwater farm plans.
Groundswell NZ predicts the Government's new Freshwater Farm Plans will cost $10,000 to implement on each farm, and says they are "just another unworkable regulation bought in by this Government".
It has started holding farmer meetings. The lobby wants freshwater farm plans to be addressed by catchment groups rather than individual farmers.
A new requirement for farms over a certain size to have a freshwater farm plan has come into effect from August 1 in parts of the Waikato and Southland, with other regions to follow over the next two years.
In the Waikato region, the requirement is being phased in by catchment, starting with the Waipā to align as best as possible with the pending implementation of Proposed Plan Change 1.
Once the regulations are activated in their catchment, farm operators will have 18 months to development and submit their first freshwater farm plan for certification.
OPINION: For thousands of Southland farmers, this week would have tipped them into the non-compliant category when it comes to following regional freshwater plan rules. But the Government has stepped in to give them the clarity they deserve.
Southland farmers staring down a May deadline to submit freshwater farm plans under current regional plan rules have been given an 18-month reprieve by the Government.
OPINION: Bouquets this week from the old mutt for Fed Farmers and Groundswell for continuing to resist the proposed Gore District plan and its intention to apply costly "cultural values" across the district and a raft of land classifications that are unworkable and counterproductive.
Three farmer lobby groups are applying the blowtorch to political parties on key issues facing the primary sector ahead of the general elections.
OPINION: Many sheep and beef farmers will be worse off under the new environment legislation than they were under the Resource Management Act (RMA), claims Beef+Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) in an email to levy payers.
Lactalis New Zealand has opened a new distribution centre in Christchurch, marking a significant investment in the company's South Island supply chain capability.
Women up and down the country are the glue that hold rural communities together, giving so much to so many, says the inaugural Rural Woman of the year award winner Kate Acland.
Waikato dairy farmer Danielle Hovmand has been named the primary sector's top emerging leader.
Don’t worry about it but just be aware - that’s the message from Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director-general Ray Smith as the H5N1 strain of bird flu is found in Australia.
OPINION: The dairy sector has been told that it cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
Lindy Nelson, Safety Farms ambassador, has been named the winner of the Leadership category at the 2026 New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards in Auckland.
OPINION: No one messes around with Winston Peters, more so in a general election year.
OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.
