Pathway for sloping land provides more certainty for winter

Environment Southland has introduced a deemed permitted activity for farmers who do not meet the slope criteria in the National Environment Standards for Freshwater rules on winter grazing, but meet all other permitted activity criteria.

This solution for Southland farmers only applies to those who winter graze on crop paddocks between 10-15 degrees.

Environment Southland integrated catchment management general manager Paul Hulse said we want to provide regulatory certainty to farmers for their intensive winter grazing next season, so we have a range of options that give farmers an opportunity to meet their regulatory obligations and achieve good environmental outcomes.

“We’re pleased that we’ve been able to find a solution for farmers who only trigger the slope criteria of the national legislation as it provides regulatory certainty and at a reasonable cost.”

Eligible farmers would need to demonstrate, by outlining their good management practices, that adverse effects on the environment are no different to the effects of intensive winter grazing conducted on low slope land.

This decision to introduce a deemed permitted activity provides three regulatory pathways for farmers to undertake their intensive winter grazing activities: i) meet all permitted activity criteria; ii) apply for a deemed permitted activity; or iii) apply for a resource consent.

“The Council will continue to work with the rural sector and we are pleased to see the continued improvement to intensive winter grazing practice. This season we saw widespread examples of good practice, including following adverse weather, and we expect this trend to continue.”

Deemed permitted activity application forms will be available online in early October and will be issued for up to 24 months. The cost for the application is likely to be under $500 if all information is supplied. An application deposit for a resource consent for winter grazing is $1725.

“While this may be a solution for many farmers, we are still continuing to encourage people to manage their winter grazing by staying within the permitted activity criteria if they can,” Paul Hulse said.

Contact Environment Southland
If you would like to talk about your intensive winter grazing activities please call 0800 76 88 45 or email service@es.govt.nz.

More information on the deemed permitted activity is available here.