Foot-in-mouth
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left them wishing they had kept their mouth firmly closed.
Following a meeting between farmer representatives and environment and ag ministers, Environment Southland will be setting up a local advisory group for freshwater rules.
The group will be set up to feed information into another group charged with implementing the new rules, says Environment Southland (ES) chairman Nicol Horrell.
Before the main meeting, Horrell and staff from ES met with David Parker to talk through the council’s role, which is to implement the new rules.
Horrell agrees with Federated Farmers that some of the new rules are simply unworkable in Southland, but believes that the Government will not take the Feds’ advice to completely re-write the legislation.
“The political reality is that it’s not going to be possible because it would be politically embarrassing,” he told Rural News. “So the best option will be for us to get tweaks made to the rules. In some cases a few word changes could make all the difference.”
Horrell says he’s never seen such prescriptive legislation before.
“Normally you get some high level objectives and then there is room for a bit of local flavour, but with this legislation there is little wriggle room.”
Horrell believe one solution is quality farm environment plans that are audited and become something that farmers use as management tool on a daily basis.
He is hopeful that the new advisory group, which will include DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ, Federated Farmers and rural professionals, will be able to come up with solutions that can be put to MfE and the minister and will bring about sensible changes.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Groundswell is ramping up its 'Quit Paris' campaign with signs going up all over the country.
Some farmers in the Nelson region are facing up to five years of hard work to repair their damaged properties caused by the recent devastating floods.
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