Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
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.
