Cattle yards adjacent to a lifestyle block annoyed the owner only once a year, at weaning, but that was enough.

Federated Farmers Dunedin-based team leader Matt Harcombe said that annual disruption caused the lifestyle block owners to ask for the yards to be moved, an example of the growing pressure on farmers as some of the increasingly urbanised population seek a rural lifestyle, but without smells, noise and other inconvenience.

The Otago Regional Council's director of resource management, Selva Selvarajah, said its staff acted only on complaints.

They did not, as a rule, go out searching for breaches of its regulations.

When a complaint was received, the council had to investigate and, in the case of odours, if thresholds were reached, it had to act.

Asked why the council could not initiate a meeting of the parties to find a resolution, Dr Selvarajah said that was not the role of councils.

They were obliged to keep the name of the complainant anonymous, in some cases for their safety.

Dr Selvarajah said it was a case of farmers using "common sense" to ensure objectionable and offensive odours did not breach the council's air plan rules by extending beyond the farm boundary.

He agreed there were cases of reverse sensitivity, such as when people moved to an area and then complained about an established activity, which typically resulted in a greater number of complaints.

But the council was neutral and used distinct measurements to determine if its rules had been breached.

He said inappropriate land zoning had resulted in the closure or relocation of some businesses.

In some areas, inappropriate zoning of surrounding land might lead to a lot of complaints from people moving into it, he said.

"Inevitably, regional councils have to act and legal action has to be taken."

A solution was for farmers and their new neighbours to try to get on well and to address problems before or as soon as they happened.

There is no shortage of stories of lifestylers and farmers clashing.

Dunedin pig farmer Pieter Bloem tells of a large-scale Canterbury pig farmer who, after the Selwyn Plantation Board cleared some tree plantations and subdivided the land, went from having 11 neighbours to 81 and now had to move.

A North Island piggery was forced to close because of complaints from new neighbours but was prevented from subdividing the land because it was deemed to have high-class soils.

In Southland, there have been complaints about the smell from dairy effluent ponds.

Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson said these were clear examples of reverse sensitivity.

Mr Harcombe said his organisation was working through district plans and using reverse covenants to deal with these issues.

Reverse covenants meant people moving to a rural area could not complain about an established activity.

This was the preferred method for dealing with the issue, he said.

Conflict was likely to become more common as the wider public, less connected to farming, wanted to enjoy a rural lifestyle.