Winter grazing enforcement update
Environment Southland has issued 5 abatement notices and 1 infringement notice ($300), for breaches to the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater, so far this season.
Of the 5 abatement notices issued, all 5 have been lifted because the recipients have now undertaken appropriate actions to become compliant with the rules.
An aerial winter grazing compliance inspection was undertaken on 13 June 2023, which identified 21 potential sites of interest some of which are still being followed up.
The five abatement notices were issued prior to the recent weather event and were not influenced by the weather, which only increases the risk of run-off into waterways, especially on sloping ground.
The rules in the national standards seek to improve winter grazing practices. They require farmers to meet all permitted activity criteria outlined in the rules, or to obtain the necessary land use consent or deemed permitted activity authorisation. For more details about that go to our website.
Intensive winter grazing, when done poorly, has for many years been identified as a particularly high risk activity in terms of potential discharge to waterways.
While forage cropped paddocks occupy a small area of land in Southland, it has a disproportionately large contribution to total contaminant losses. This is because of the intensive nature of the practice, active disturbance of soil structure, and the removal of vegetation from the ground. Southland’s winter weather can be challenging and often brings short bursts of intense rain or even snow, as we have seen recently. It is even more risky where there are critical source areas which are often the receiving environment of runoff, and a pathway to waterways. This results in a landscape at high risk of sediment, microbial and nutrient runoff in overland flow where it may enter waterways. Slope can exacerbate this risk, therefore, restricting intensive winter grazing on sloping land as much as possible will help to reduce the risk of contaminant loss to freshwater.
There is a reason for these rules. They are in place to protect our waterways – the community has repeatedly reiterated that improving and protecting our waterways is a priority.
While farmers have improved winter grazing practice significantly over the last few years, and we acknowledge the good work they have done, it remains a high risk activity and the Government has determined that rules are required to ensure the risk of discharges of nutrients and sediment is minimised.
Environment Southland is continuing with business as usual – this includes providing advice and support, and the monitoring and enforcement of breaches of winter grazing rules under the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater. This may include the issuing of further abatement notices where a breach of the rules has been confirmed.
It’s not always obvious to the public when winter grazing rules aren’t being met. Sometimes, good practice can be implicated in a breach of the rules. Likewise, seemingly poor practice doesn’t necessarily mean a breach of the rules, and if that is the case, we offer advice on good practice, which is also available from industry organisations.
An abatement notice is one of the tools within the enforcement toolbox. It is a legal document that requires the recipient to comply with it. In the case of winter grazing, the notice requires people to be compliant with the rules – this means moving stock off the identified paddock where rules are being breached until they can become compliant, through either the deemed permitted activity or consent process. Where farmers have concerns about their ability to comply with an abatement notice, they should contact us and we can work through their options.
Before the issuing of the abatement notices, we endeavoured to contact the farmers to discuss their situation and have since spoken to all of them. In those calls we found people to be cooperative and genuinely interested in working to become compliant.
An abatement notice must legally provide a time to act. However, recipients are advised that if that timeframe is unsustainable and impractical they should contact us and we can extend the timeframes once we understand the mitigations they need to undertake. Each property operates differently, and we understand this and try to enable farmers to become compliant.
There is no fine with an abatement notice, only a cost recovery invoice for the investigation. The Council has an obligation to recover costs where it can from those in breach of the rules to prevent the costs falling to the general ratepayer. However, there are consequences if the notice is ignored.
Abatement notices can be lifted as soon as the recipient provides evidence they have complied which satisfies Council. This may include photos and an outline of their next steps in order to become compliant with the rules.
The one infringement issued was for $300 after advice was not followed up. The amount is set out in the RMA.
If non-compliance is noted, Environment Southland has a responsibility to acknowledge it and to act to prevent or stop environmental degradation. We are legally required to enforce the rules and follow a defined process outlined in our Enforcement Policy.
Our message to the community has been consistently clear about wanting to work with farmers to ensure their winter grazing activities are complying with the rules.
Staff from the compliance and integrated catchment management teams undertook early engagement with farmers to provide advice about the winter grazing rules. This has included talking with many farmers and sending out advice and education letters where we identified slope or critical source areas may become an issue once the rules were live.
Staff still actively provide advice, education and support where they can, to assist farmers. Our compliance, integrated catchment management and consents teams are here to help.
