He is the spokesman and foundation member of the Waimea Land and Water Care Catchment Group, which was formed in February, to both provide a better information flow and engagement between the area's farming community and Environment Southland, (ES) around water quality and degradation mitigation, and to promote discussion and idea sharing between the farmers themselves.
''Anyone from anywhere can join. There is no membership fee and we have between 25 and 30 farmers and their families from throughout the Upper Waimea catchment involved,'' Mr Wilson said.
The group has also held three well-attended field days and a presentation about the area's water issues, which were supported by ES and DairyNZ.
He said the group was formed after some frustrated debates at a discussion group about the expected proscribed farming practices that were likely to be imposed by ES as a result of the Land and Water 2020 legislation.
The legislation requires each region to meet specific pollution reduction targets by 2020, including levels of nitrates in ground and surface water.
''There was a gap between the planners at Environment Southland and what was happening on the ground, from the farmers' point of view,'' Mr Wilson said.
''Most people opposed to being dictated to about how they should farm and there is a bit of mistrust around the science.
''We wanted to see if we could do something about it ourselves.''
He said while dairy farmers tended to be blamed for the catchment's high level of nitrates in the ground water, half the farmers were also sheep, beef, deer or arable farmers.
He could see a rift between dairy farmers and the rest of the community.
''I feel there was a `them and us' attitude, when there shouldn't be.
''The best thing was to be pro-active and get the community working together for a common goal.''
The group has several key goals including:
1. To find out just what the state of the water quality is for the catchment.
While a lot of research and monitoring work has been done by ES on the groundwater, more needs to be done and that will be followed by public discussion.
He said research carried out to date had indicated the Upper Waimea catchment had 15 ''hotspots'' with high levels of nitrate concentrations in its groundwater, which exceeded the World Health Organisation's recommended levels.
However, research for the past 14 years had shown the high levels appeared to be naturally occurring because of the unusual underlying geographical nature of the area.
2. To foster and encourage on-farm best practice. If the farmers employ best on-farm practices then they are more likely to be in line with ES's compliance requirements.
This includes best practice ways of grazing cattle on crops, restricting access to waterways and alternating crops.
''The word ''compliance'' switches people off,'' he said.
3. To provide a conduit for feedback between the catchment's farmers and ES.
''ES appreciated the feedback and we provide a whole new avenue of people who can talk to them about their concerns.''
4. To provide a forum to encourage discussion on the issue among the catchment's farmers themselves.
He can be contacted on: shannonandaaron@farmside.co.nz.