48 | Low input, high output farming is key Birkett farming peas direct drilled into cover crop. Russell Fredric David Birkett is one of many previously embattled farmers relieved the Government has rolled over existing resource consents until the Resource Management Act (RMA) is reformed. In early December, the Government introduced the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill that, when passed into law, will replace the RMA. The National Government has estimated these new laws will nearly halve the current number of required consents on the nation’s farms. The Birkett farm is located at Leeston, Canterbury. Covering 200 hectares and fully irrigated, it is fully in crops during summer and also fattens lambs. The farm is a low input, high output farming system using conservation growing techniques. David has been involved in numerous industry governance roles at both local and national levels, including past chair of Foundation for Arable Research for seven years and has been the current Federated Farmers arable group chairman for two and a half years. Under ECAN the cost of a resource consent renewal for a farm had ballooned from $9000 to $10,000 to up to $100,000 in some cases for current renewals, with some farmers facing onerous or unworkable conditions attached to their renewals, David says. This included farms that had no change in land or water use and that had an excellent track record in relation to their existing consents, David says. “With the consent situation, Federated Farmers have been able to lobby the Government so we have got a roll over for consents which are up for renewal so that means those consents will continue to operate, even past their expiry date. That will happen until the local regional council has its new plan in place. “Obviously the new plan is going to have to operate under the new RMA. That’s probably going to take three-ish years with most regional councils.” The decision to continue the existing consents is a win for common sense, David says. Federated Farmers position is that upon consent renewal it should be a simple process if there is no change or if there have been no discrepancies during the period of the consent, he says. It is also hoped that under the new rules a resource consent will not be needed on some farms due to the environmental requirements being covered under existing farm environment plans or freshwater farm plans. “There’s no reason that any conditions that the ARABLE » Birkett Farming Ltd 03 302 8115 email: nzoffice@spsnz.co.nz Proudly supporting Birkett Farming Ltd SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ) LTD Specialists in Hybrid Vegetable Seed Production Outstanding success removing weeds, seeds such as dock, field madder, and fathen Jake 027 3355 036 FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz consent covers could not be in our farm plans and are audited on our farm plans if needed. ” Based on independent cost benefit analysis commissioned by the Government, it estimates up to 46% of consent and permit applications required under the current RMA could become unnecessary with the proposed legislation, while based on 2023/2024 volumes, this represents between 15,000 and 22,000 consents that would no longer be needed. “Part of the problem we’ve faced is that the Government, and ECAN particularly, work from a regulatory point of view and farmers work from a practical point of view. I think this is what regional councils need to understand; they need to turn a lens to a practical approach into the regulations that they have. When you take it word-for-word it creates all sorts of inefficiencies in the system and that’s what’s costing a lot of the money at the moment.” “The law was a little too prescriptive. You have to make the law work in a practical way and that’s the bit that’s been missing.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=