Judge Brian Dwyer yesterday said that any penalty for farmer Alfons Zeestraten would outweigh the gravity of Zeestraten’s offending.
"Mr Zeestraten wishes to remain involved in the dairy industry one way or another.
"The presence of a conviction on a person’s record can be a real impediment to being employed in the industry," Judge Dwyer said.
In another case, Judge Dwyer described a dairy farm manager as being a "hostage to fate".
Andrew Chrystall, of Winton, appeared before Judge Dwyer with farm owners Kauana Ltd Partnership, of Feilding, charged with discharging effluent on to or into land which may result in it entering water.
The incident occurred at the beginning of June after an effluent storage system was put under pressure during winter when already at capacity.
Despite the farm being granted a consent in 2017 to increase capacity for effluent storage, it had not been installed.
The judge said that Chrystall had told the owners of his concerns but they disputed this fact.
It was after the Southland regional council was tipped off on June 9 by a member of the public that effluent was being sprayed into the air that it was first investigated.
Over the course of four days, the property was inspected by an enforcement officer.
The case fell within the moderately serious band, Judge Dwyer said.
"The situation was primed for failure in the event of any unforeseen circumstances, accident or extreme weather conditions."
The business had increased effluent storage since the offending.
Judge Dwyer said just because owners knew the farm had been operated properly for a number of years, it was not good enough to say problems had not been brought to their attention.
"There is an obligation on owners and consent holders that everything is in fact all right.
"There is no evidence before the court that they checked ... in this case.
"There were significant failures on the part of both defendants in this instance," Judge Dwyer said.
Kauana Ltd Partnership was fined $52,500 and Chrystall was fined $35,000.
