Compliance manager Tami Sargeant said compliance this winter had bee very good, and there was a high number of consents and appropriate measures in place.
By May 11, 250 IWG applications had been lodged with the ORC and 207 consents had been granted.
ORC undertook flyovers across the region in early August and Ms Sargeant said overall, there was very good practice and appropriate measures were being taken on farms.
"I want to thank you for your efforts in this area and your engagement on IWG to date. Following the flyovers, compliance staff sent educational letters from observations from the winter flyovers about IWG on their property to 200 farms," she said in a recent email sent out to Otago farmers.
However, an error had occurred following the flyovers, and some letters were sent to farmers who had winter grazing consents, the email said.
"The properties that have resource consent that were observed from the flyovers shouldn’t have received that letter. We’re currently investigating how this occurred so that we can improve our process around this and ensure it will not happen again."
"The monitoring focus for winter grazing this season has been on farms where IWG consents have not yet been applied for, and waterway disturbances," she said.
"Whilst these were education-based letters, we have formal enforcement tools that we’ll use as needed in line with our Resource Management Act compliance and enforcement policy. As the winter grazing season is completed for this year, the focus is on supporting farmers to meet requirements for next year."
As well as the letters, her field staff had followed up "on the ground" where a small number of high-risk sites were identified, Ms Sargeant said.
"This concerned the management of critical source areas and slope of land," she said.
- By Alice Scott
