‘Chain-dragger’ sullys all dairy farmers

 Rahotu dairy farmer Francis John Mullan, 64, was fined $66,000 in the Environment Court for two charges of discharging effluent into groundwater and a stream on one of his eight farms.

Mullen has two previous convictions for similar offences. The $66,000 Environment Court fine is the largest ever for a farmer in Taranaki.

Hoggard says most farmers are doing a great job protecting the environment; they are let down by a small group. “A few of them are dragging the chain and letting others down,” he told Rural News.

He points out cases of non-compliance in farm effluent management are dropping. In Hoggard’s home patch of Manawatu, monitored by Horizons Regional Council, non-compliance has dropped from 16% three years ago to 3% last season.

 “We are moving in the right direction and farmers are making huge investments in effluent management,” he says.

 Mullan pleaded not guilty to the two charges but a jury returned a guilty verdict after a two and a half day trial in December.

Judge Colin Thompson said Mullan viewed himself “too important to be part of the rules and responsibilities that apply to the rest of the farming world”.

Thompson said the cumulative effect of the pollution on the land and waterways was significant. He ordered 90% of the fine to go to the Taranaki Regional Council.

In March 2013 a TRC officer on a routine inspection of Mullan’s Upper Kina Rd farm found a broken pump causing effluent to overflow onto land. It flooded 80m² and entered a drain to a tributary of the Oanui Stream.

The prosecutor described Mullan’s offending as wilful, blind and his attitude negligent in the extreme. Mullan had a history of non-compliance with four previous convictions under the Resource Management Act.

Mullan’s lawyer Patrick Mooney argued he was not wilfully blind because he repaired the broken pump as soon as he was aware of it.

He says responsibility for day-to-day workings of the farm lay with Mullan’s farm manager Jeremy Auld.

“It defeats the purpose of employing a manager if you go on the farm every day. There must come a point where you pass the level of responsibility onto the farm worker and that was passed to Mr Auld.”

However the judge said Mullan’s system of communication with his farm manager was “woefully insufficient”.

Mullan has a history of non compliance on all eight of his dairy farms. His offending dates back to 1999, including effluent flowing into a stream and ponding on pasture, and effluent ponds not managed properly.