Southland’s Federated Farmers president says they finally have a reason to celebrate, after the government extended deadlines for their farm plans — and Environment Southland agrees it was the right move.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced last Thursday the Cabinet has agreed to provide more time for farmers and growers to comply with regional rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan, by providing alternate national timelines.
Southland farmers would have been required to complete a farm plan by the end of the month.
"Cabinet’s decision will remove uncertainty for farmers in the region who would have been unable to meet these timeframes, giving them until mid-2026 to meet the regional requirements."
The decision would enable the change to take effect in Southland only.
Southland Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick said this was a very positive result and also showed the improvement in the relationship between farmers and the government.
"It’s like a breath of fresh air knowing that farmers have a little bit more time to be able to get their affairs in order and around this farm-plan framework, but they are also taking into account that the government’s changing the NPS [National Policy Statement] around freshwater.
"It gives us confidence going forward knowing that government is listening to farmers on the ground ... and politicians want to make sure that they create that regulation or legislation to make it easier for farmers to get on with the job without too much red tape."
Recent months had been pretty tough for farmers due to the challenging weather conditions, but things were now starting to look a bit better.
Mr Herrick believed there were still pressures as farmers were needing to catch up with the work.
"There’s still a lot of stress out there because they are flat out trying to catch up and get things organised — we have not seen the end of it yet, but there’s definitely a little bit of a reprieve knowing that the weather has warmed up, the grass is growing a bit better."
In the meantime, Environment Southland also welcomed the news about the extension of the deadline of the plan.
Chairman Nicol Horrell said the regional council and farmers were left with an "impossible situation" which would require it to have everything done by the end of the month.
"Look, we ask them (the government) for this and we are very grateful they have responded.
"It is common sense, it gives the time to work with the industry."
