The Redan Valley farm is a 600ha operation in the Catlins and is the second-closest property to the proposed Slopedown wind farm.
The Contact Energy wind farm is made up of 55 turbines and has the potential to power up to 150,000 houses. The application was declined by an Environment Protection Authority-appointed panel and has moved to the fast-track process.
Redan Valley owner Carlyn Stewart said the wind farm was always at the back of her mind.
"My last two springs and summers have been reading, wading through paper, so this will be the third summer in a row," she said.
"This is the fourth time that this wind farm has been brought to the community. Not that Contact has bothered to engage the community in this round yet. The third time Contact bypassed the normal channels and fast-tracked the application. It was still declined, for very valid reasons."
It was hard to get away from the wind farm and its impact.
"Well, you know, you’re busy farming and you look up on the hill and you think, ‘Oh, we live outdoors, we look at this hill a million times a day."’
She said they were so busy concentrating on the wind farm that land beside her farm had trees planted on it.
Farm-to-forest conversions were a hot topic in farming over concerns about loss of stock and people from communities.
Contact Energy wrote in its fast-track application that Slopedown was not an area of outstanding natural landscape, but Mrs Stewart said it was valuable to those who lived by it.
"It actually has some very significant fauna and flora on it. Their thing is, ‘We’ll just move it, if it’s going to be affected.’
"The council can say that [not outstanding natural landscape], but in terms of when they had their community consultation, the community thought it was, and the district council did not represent the community.
"What most of Southland doesn’t realise is that Slopedown is visible throughout Southland."
Consultation had been token, from Contact Energy, she said.
She said the project to the farmers in the area was not about money — "it’s our 125 years of heritage."
Contact Energy had offered a community fund of more than $4million over 35 years.
"The government has set up a process that allows companies to buy out of their community, cultural and environmental obligations. How do you fight that?
"At what point does this become harassment of the local and wider community? Another spring and summer rolls around and the community, who have their own occupations, are spending their spare time wading through reports to fight this proposed disaster. When Contact are declined this time, who do they apply to next?"
Contact Energy said 27-40 wind farms of this scale were needed by 2050 to meet government targets.
