Southland farmers have been given a further 18-months breathing space to submit their farm plans for certification, a requirement under the Southland Water and Land Plan, following a government announcement yesterday (21 Nov).

Farm plans are a key tool, within the Southland Water and Land Plan, to manage environmental contamination risks associated with farming activities.

Yesterday's announcement by Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard, effectively extends the Southland farm plan deadline from November 2024 to mid-2026.

Agriculture Minister McClay said cabinet had agreed to provide more time for farmers and growers to comply with regional rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan, by providing alternate national timelines.

“Southland’s regional plan contains a requirement for farmers to prepare a farm plan by the end of this year, if the national system is not in place."

“Cabinet’s decision will remove uncertainty for farmers in the region who would have been unable to meet these timeframes, giving them until mid-2026 to meet the regional requirements."

“We do not want to see hard-working farmers and growers in the region impacted through no fault of their own,” McClay said

In October the government paused the national freshwater farm plan system in an endeavor to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers.

Environment Minister Simmonds said they had worked closely with Environment Southland (ES) to swiftly come up with a workable solution to support Southland farmers.

ES Chairman Nicol Horrell welcomed the announcement and said it was a common-sense solution for Southland farmers and growers.

“For many years we’ve worked alongside farmers to provide support because we recognise the value of risk-based farm plans for getting environmental improvements."

“The really good thing about the Southland Farm Plans is the requirement in our plan to tailor them to the unique circumstances of individual properties and the catchments they are in.”

Horrell said the Environment Court process for the Water and Land Plan led to a strengthened role for farm plans, which was supported in principle by all parties.

“Given the long history of working with farm plans in Southland, I’m confident farmers here will comfortably move forward with the Southland Farm Plans.”

Updated and simplified national regulations are expected in the first half of next year, he said, and ES is also looking at how it can make improvements to its farm plan rules.

The next two years will be focused on working with the community and stakeholders at both the catchment and property scale to encourage positive action.

Over the coming months, ES will be sharing catchment-specific information with opportunities for action to support farmers to develop and refine their Southland Farm Plans.

“Our message to farmers continues to be – ‘start pulling together the information for your farm plan now’. We will be there to support you to share the latest information we have.” he said.

Updated material including guidance for creating a farm plan is being tested with farmers currently and will form part of the rollout over the coming months.

For further advice on farm plans, call Environment Southland on 0800 76 88 45.