Consent compliance must be a priority

Shareholders’ Council says consent compliance must be a priority

(Auckland - March 18, 2010) - The Fonterra Shareholders’ Council says meeting Regional Council rules for effluent management must be a priority for all dairy farmers

Council chairman Blue Read said one of the major issues dairy farmers face is the need to make sure rivers and streams on dairy farms are clean.

“Most of us make the effort to ensure full compliance on resource consent conditions for effluent discharge – but overall compliance is still at an unacceptable level,” Mr Read said. “As representatives of farmers, we must act to ensure compliance. If farmers have a problem then they need to know that they must fix it,” he said.

The Shareholders’ Council’s comments come as latest data shows effluent management continues to be a problem on many New Zealand dairy farms.
The Clean Streams Accord results for 2008/09 show non-compliance with regional council rules rose to 15%, compared with 12% a year earlier.

“This result is extremely disappointing and is simply not good enough,” Mr Read said.

“As farmer representatives we are spreading the message that compliance with effluent discharge consents is a “must have”, not a “nice to have”, he said. “The non-compliance of individual farmers reflects badly on Fonterra, other farmers and the entire industry.

While the onus is on local government authorities to monitor and ensure compliance with their legislation, the Shareholders’ Council can assist them by encouraging all Fonterra farmers to do the right thing.

At the same time a consistent application of rules and requirements across the entire country by Regional Councils is needed. The Shareholders’ Council supports moves by the dairy industry to seek consistent treatment across the country.

Mr Read noted that Fonterra has a support and advisory programme for farmers, and has an effluent management system which penalises those who blatantly flout regulation.

“But at the end of the day it is for farmers to make sure they are looking after the environment” Mr Read said.

ENDS

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