In June 2013, Horizons passed resolutions on implementation of the One Plan. These resolutions state how the policies and rules concerning discharges to land from intensive agriculture would be implemented, and guide Horizons’ staff in plan implementation. These policies and rules are termed the nutrient management provisions of the One Plan. These resolutions established two consent pathways66: controlled activity, and restricted discretionary for farms that could not meet controlled activity status (Horizons Regional Council, 2015). The length of the consent issued depends on the farm’s ability to reduce nitrogen losses: farms that meet the controlled activity status will receive a longer-term consent than farms with a restricted discretionary consent.
66 Controlled activity: farms that can meet the cumulative N leaching maximums as set in Table 14.2. Restricted discretionary: farms that cannot meet the targets in Table 14.2.
Horizons quickly reassured farmers that all intensive farms in targeted catchments would be issued a Land Use Consent, and Horizons’ chairman stated in a press release: (Horizons Regional Council, 2013a):
The decision council has made today means that all farmers have the security to keep on farming as they will be given a consent while they make the changes on farm to reduce nitrogen entering waterways.
DairyNZ and Horizons staff are working together to implement the nutrient management provisions of the One Plan. Their collaborative goal was to maintain economic sustainability for dairy farmers, and contribute to an improvement in water quality. Horizons’ and DairyNZ staff developed a framework to calculate the average percent reduction in nitrogen loss required per dairy farm, and a process to implement this framework. This implementation process incudes a pilot programme, the Land Use Consent application process, and collaborative farmer information meetings run by Horizons, DairyNZ and Fonterra staff, with support from some farmer members of the TCEIS.
A pilot programme to develop the Land Use Consent application process was initiated in 2014. The pilot programme involved a DairyNZ head office staff member, some Horizons’ staff, the accredited nutrient management consultants, and 50 dairy farmers from several targeted WMSZ (initially Mangapapa and Waikawa, then extended to the Mangatainoka WMZ). The Mangapapa WMSZ is in the Upper Gorge WMZ, and the study site for this research.
The collaborative pilot programme trialled, modified, and re-trialled a data collection system, with the aim of developing a consistent process across farms. One of the DairyNZ staff in this study stated that alignment (‘getting everyone on the same page’) would contribute to a consistent approach to reducing on-farm nitrogen use, and a consistent process and cost structure for farmers. In order to develop this consistent data collection system, DairyNZ contracted and funded the ten nutrient management consultants to each prepare a consent application for five farms, and applications were then compared across farms. DairyNZ’s financial contribution resulted in a cost saving of several thousand dollars for each farmer involved in the pilot, because each farmer only paid the consent application fee to Horizons and did not pay for the consultant’s time. During the pilot programme, regional DairyNZ and Horizons’ staff also published an information booklet for dairy farmers (Dairy farming under the One Plan) (DairyNZ & Horizons Regional Council, 2014). This booklet broadly explains the process for obtaining a Land Use
application document. The data collection system developed during the pilot programme is now used by regional DairyNZ staff and nutrient management consultants in the Land Use Consent application process.
One of the DairyNZ staff in this study described the key stages in the application process. Firstly, farm production data from the 2012/13 season is collected from each farm (termed a ‘baseline’67), and includes a series of farm maps (Land Use Capability, soils, and paddock area maps), data on physical infrastructure, and a description of management practices and inputs (DairyNZ & Horizons Regional Council, 2014). Either a regional DairyNZ staff member, a DairyNZ contractor, or another professional collects the baseline data, and a regional DairyNZ staff member then checks the accuracy and consistency of the data. One of the regional DairyNZ staff members found that data collected by non-DairyNZ staff members or contractors was not always consistent with Horizons’ data protocols, and admitted there was an extra cost to a farmer obtaining a consent, because DairyNZ was subsidising the baseline collection. The regional DairyNZ Catchment Engagement Leader noted if DairyNZ staff and the farmer believe that the 2012/2013 season was not a fair reflection of the farm’s production (e.g. due to drought), Horizons will permit use of either the 2011/2012 or the 2010/2011 season data to generate the baseline (A. Duker, personal communication, March 21, 2016).
In the second stage of the consent process, a regional DairyNZ staff member prepares an information document for each farm. This document includes: the baseline farm data, an Overseer file, farm consents data (from Horizons), fertiliser data (e.g. from Ravensdown and Ballance) and waterway fencing audits (from Fonterra). DairyNZ staff follow Horizons’ protocols and Overseer input standards to check the information’s accuracy and consistency, then pass the information document (and information check) to the nutrient management consultant selected by the farmer. The DairyNZ regional staff member considers his role is to maintain the integrity, accuracy and consistency of information and process, which he thinks will result in on-farm mitigation strategies that are based on accurate data.
Finally, the certified nutrient management consultant uses the information document and works with their farmer client to prepare the consent application. The nutrient management consultant and farmer investigate potential on-farm mitigation strategies that can be used to manage nutrient, sediment and bacterial losses to water. The nutrient management consultant then
develops a farm plan with the farmer, completes the application, and sends the completed application to Horizons for processing. Some of the Horizons and DairyNZ staff in this study used the same phrase - ‘low hanging fruit’ - to describe the mitigation strategies initially explored by the nutrient management consultants with their dairy farmer clients. These staff described the ‘low hanging fruit’ as ‘easy gains’, or mitigation strategies that are less costly and/or able to be effectively implemented to obtain the nitrogen reductions that will contribute to improving water quality. Some examples of ‘low hanging fruit’ include not applying nitrogen in winter, changing the type of bought in supplementary feed, and changing summer crop. The last section in this chapter investigates the ten farms, and the diverse farm management systems used by the twelve farmers in this study.