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Mr Powell and
Mr Reed introduced the agenda item and requested that members of the Taharua
Stakeholder Group present at the meeting introduce themselves. Those members
present were Messrs Steve Smith, Tony Fleming, Andrew Kempson and Sean Newland.
A powerpoint
presentation was given which updated the Committee on progress to date in the
Taharua catchment and also set out a proposed management package and landowner
actions, which had been developed by the main landowners and DairyNZ with
assistance from Council staff.
Mr Powell
advised that the management package was in response to public feedback that restoring
and maintaining natural character, ecosystem health and biodiversity of the
upper Mohaka river was paramount. In order for this to occur it was
necessary that the total load of nitrogen leaving the Taharua catchment be
reduced to approximately 161 tonnes per year. However, emphasis should be
placed on an adaptive approach of action, monitoring, review and adjustment,
rather than reliance on numbers.
Mr Reed
outlined the proposed statutory plan change, which would set initial goals
for farmers to reduce nitrogen leaching and establish a “club”, or
partnership, of members to take collaborative action to implement an agreed
Catchment Management Plan. The partnership would assess performance of member
landowners on a yearly basis. Mr Reed advised that landowners would need to
meet the target nitrogen load within 10 years and that poor performance would
be addressed by requiring a whole of farm consent.
In response
to questions from the Committee, Mr Powell noted the following:
A range of nitrogen leaching mitigations were considered for the dairy
farms in this specific catchment. Farmers have selected the nitrification
inhibitor ‘Eco-n’ as a preferred approach, recognising other actions may be
needed. Eco-n is a proven mitigation tool based on 20 years research.
Assessing the impacts of planned deforestation and future land
use options will assist landowner negotiations on how to collectively meet
the target catchment load. If not, Council may need to make a decision on
landowner allocations.
Mr Newland of
Fonterra outlined the approach Fonterra would continue to take in the
catchment, including new Fonterra initiatives.
Mr Fleming of
Country Spirit outlined the constraints of existing farm investments on
future mitigation options, including herd homes.
Mr Smith
representing the major non-dairy landowner outlined his support for an
adaptive management approach through the Catchment Management Plan as the
logical way forward, as long as there is adequate accountability. Outcomes
must be “fair and equitable” to landowners.
Members of the
Committee congratulated staff and the farming community in the Taharua/Mohaka
catchment for the outstanding achievements already attained particularly when
currently times are not the easiest for succeeding.
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