24 August 2015

Court order for piggery mismanagement

A court order has been made against a Waikato pig farmer, limiting his future involvement in the industry.

Last month, Kenneth McIntyre and his employer, Kaimai Pork Limited, were convicted and fined a total of $128,750, a record fine for environmental offending in the Waikato.

In addition to the fine, the Environment Court has now issued an enforcement order prohibiting McIntyre from certain farming roles. It includes a ban on his involvement in management of animal effluent as well as restrictions around management of animal numbers and financial decisions.

The order follows what was McIntyre’s fourth prosecution for piggery-related offences against the Resource Management Act. The prosecutions against McIntyre and Kaimai Pork were brought by the Waikato Regional Council and related to the operation of a recently established commercial piggery near Te Aroha.

McIntyre was one of the company directors and responsible for management of the site, including effluent disposal. The piggery began operating with excessive stock numbers without appropriate infrastructure in place, resulting in unlawful discharges of piggery effluent to the environment. Despite being directed by the council to stop, the unlawful discharges continued.

McIntyre’s history of environmental offending dates back to 2006. Council records indicate he has received ten previous formal warnings, three infringement notices, five abatement notices as well as being the subject of three previous prosecutions.

“We had little choice but to put Mr McIntyre back in front of the court over the most recent offending,” said council investigations manager Patrick Lynch.

“Over the years the council has used every tool available to encourage positive behavior change, but unfortunately this has not worked. This fine, and the court order, is a very clear message for Mr McIntyre to change his ways.”

ends

© Scoop Media