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Carpet battle far from over.
Massey Ferguson launches 7S Series. PAGE 24
Punting on a natural payoff. PAGE 15
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TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS AUGUST 16, 2022: ISSUE 757
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Computer says no! SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
DAIRY FARMERS around the country are in breach of a new law around reporting synthetic nitrogen because the Government has failed to deliver an online measuring tool on time. Farmers should have submitted data for their respective farms by July 31. However, regional councils are asking farmers to wait until the new
national reporting systems are available. The web portal is now expected to go live from August 29 and councils say “no follow up action” will be taken against farmers until October. Federated Farmers says it appears the Government did not engage necessary web developers until the eleventh hour. Feds essential freshwater regulations spokesman Colin Hurst told Rural News, as it stands today, the law states that dairy farmers must submit
fertiliser data to regional councils by July 31 this year. “Federated Farmers finds it astonishing that councils would write to farmers and ask them to just wait a few months before they complied,” he says. The new regulation is part of the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) essential freshwater policy. Hurst says the failure to deliver the online tool on time should also be seen in the broader context of the Government’s freshwater package. He claims
the 2020 freshwater package contained a number of complicated and frankly unworkable regulations. “It has put the ministry and regional councils under a lot of pressure. None of the regulations have been implemented without incident so far.” Federated Farmers has written to the minister, David Parker, seeking an amendment to delay the reporting date for the 2021-22 year to the end of 2022. “We don’t think it’s fair to ask people to be in breach of the law, no
one wants to be put in that position,” says Hurst. Regional and Unitary Councils NZ land monitoring group lead Richard Saunders told Rural News that developing the tools has taken longer than expected. “By working together, the regional sector and the fertiliser industry has ensured that there is a consistent approach to data calculation and submission across the three tools developed to date.” Saunders says while the intent was to have the system ready for 31 July, developing these tools has taken longer than expected. “It is important we are confident that these tools will operate as intended when farmers begin to use them,” he adds. “No follow up action will be taken until after October, as we are encouraging farmers to wait until the new system is available to submit their data.” He says councils have agreed that the focus, following ‘go live’, will be to engage with farmers to encourage them to complete their reporting.
On a new mission After 15 years, Malcolm Bailey steps down as chair of the Dairy Companies of NZ (DCANZ) this week. After nearly four decades involvement in the NZ dairy sector, Bailey says he’s not retiring. However, his next gig will have little to do with the dairy industry – rather he’s planning to devote his energies to the technology companies that he has invested in. Some of these are poised to make interesting contributions to both agriculture and the wider industry. See full story page 7
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