Farm Regulation: Some Gains For Farmers In Horizons Environmental battle
March 17th, 2010
Federated Farmers has mounted one of its biggest campaigns to battle the Horizons Regional Council’s proposed One Plan, characterising the all-encompassing resources strategy as a “licence to farm.” It’s exactly the kind of bureaucratic entanglement which has president Don Nicholson foaming at the mouth. Yet the commissioners tasked with deliberating on the council’s proposal may have listened to farmers’ fears they’ll have to downsize herds as they’re forced into what’s known as nutrient budgeting on a too-short timeframe.
A compromise will ensure the next stage of the process isn’t a trip to the Environment Court, which farmers are clearly anticipating. This will be averted if intensive agriculture is deemed a permitted activity and the Land Use Capability (LUC) targets are dumped. Andrew Hoggard, on the executive of the Feds’ dairy section, noted in his submission he would have been forced to seek variations to his ‘consent’ in each of the past 10 years if One Plan had been in place during the period.
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Hoggard says “it looks likely, touch wood, that a permitted activity rule comes out of this and the LUC targets are history.” The reverberations are clear. Horizons’ strategy could well become a template for regional councils nationwide who are being required to more rationally and economically manage their resources.
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