Water dominated discussions, as farmers wanted to know how proposed national freshwater policies would affect them.
The meeting was organised by the North Otago Sustainable Land Management group, and attended by many local body election candidates as well as the primary sector.
Council chief executive Sarah Gardner said she was ''really aware there's a lot coming at you'' and the council was ''in the same boat''.
Forthcoming changes to water policy ''makes it pretty difficult for all of us''.
Water was the council's top priority, Mrs Gardner said. It was asking catchment communities what values they placed on it before deciding how best to manage and allocate it.
North Otago was a slightly higher priority than some of the region's other catchments, she said.
The council understood farmers preferred its effects-based approach to the prescriptive approach taken by other regional councils. It also understood there was confusion, inconsistency, and difficulty enforcing some of its ''permitted activity'' rules.
Likely new national policies were ''driving us towards a more prescriptive approach,'' Mrs Gardner said.
''We will have to change.''
The council intended to air its views on the proposals before the public consultation period closed.
It was trying to understand their impacts by studying a sample of Otago properties before preparing its submission.
''It's really hard when you get a 'one size fits all' policy,'' Mrs Gardner said.
She wondered whether there would be changes to the Resource Management Act because of the Government's emphasis on putting the environment first.
Farmer Barbara Richardson said she did not want to lose the progress farmers were starting to make, and would like better sharing of information on what farmers have done to improve water quality.
Mrs Gardner said the council's submission would emphasise the outstanding work Otago catchment groups were doing.
The council wanted to have more rural liaison officers and allow staff to connect farmers with others ''where the good stuff is being done''.
She has asked the communications team to ''be very public about promoting the good work''.
Farmer Callum Kingan said none of the three options in the national freshwater proposals fitted his view and he feared the consultation would produce ''a false result''.
''Don't limit yourself to the three options,'' Mrs Gardner said.
''Propose what you do want to see. If you don't want A, B,or C, say so. Put your proposal forward.''
When asked by farmer Gareth Isbister if Otago's small population would be heard nationally, she assured him the region has been well represented.
A new senior adviser has been hired to work more closely with the local government mayoral forum and gain greater political access.
