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Labor has promised to invest $ 50 million in a farm planning framework and a possible cost-sharing arrangement to help farmers reduce their compliance costs.
The party, which has introduced new freshwater regulations that farmers must adhere to during their tenure in government, says it will create a “single planning framework” if elected in October.
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern, visiting a farm in Mangatāwhiri, Waikato, on Wednesday to announce the policy, said Labor would invest $ 50 million for both this farm planning framework and a cost-sharing agreement to reduce farm costs. compliance, such as resource consents.
“It is fair to say that for several years the expectation and work that farmers and farm managers are expected to do on issues such as health and safety, biosecurity, water quality, climate change, creates a variety of expectations that we are expected to do. Let’s find out, ”Ardern said.
Kelly Hodel / Stuff
Union leader Jacinda Ardern visits the Green Valley Dairy Company in Mangatāwhiri to announce an agricultural policy.
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“There is a way to simplify that … It means we should be able to eliminate some of the consent processes by having integrated farm plans.”
The workforce is launching integrated farm planning, or a single planning framework for farms, that encompasses a farm’s environmental, labor, biosecurity, animal welfare and health and safety standards, as a “vital” next step. to create cleaner and carbon neutral agriculture. sector.
The industry was already working on such farm planning, according to Labor, and the $ 50 million fund to “drive closer collaboration that will reduce compliance costs.”
The three key objectives of the policy were the plan itself, online tools and other assistance for farmers, and increased data sharing across the sector. An integrated farm plan was said to reduce a farmer’s need for resource permits.
There were few details on what the potential cost-sharing agreement would look like, but it was expected to be drafted in mid-2021 and that the $ 50 million investment would be a “core contribution” to this agreement.
Ardern said the policy was “the right thing to do” regardless of whether farmers would vote for Labor.
“This is the backbone of our export market, there are huge challenges. We need to show that we are operating in a sustainable way that we have regenerative agricultural practices, our job is to remove some of the red tape and make it as easy as possible. “
Labor agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor said farmers and producers could spend between $ 5,000 and $ 10,000 developing such a farm plan, and Labor would seek to share that cost.
“One of the first farm plan templates to be implemented will seek to replace the consent process for intensive winter grazing,” he said.
“Working with regional councils and industry, we will design a template that will make it much easier to apply for consent for intensive winter grazing, or eventually replace the need for the consent process.”
Horticulture NZ said the horticulture industry was already implementing such plans and welcomed the prospect of government support for it.
“HortNZ has been testing agricultural environmental plans with vegetable growers in Levin and Pukekohe, two of New Zealand’s main vegetable growing areas, with good results,” CEO Mike Chapman said in a statement.
The costs farmers face were among the issues raised Tuesday night by national leader Judith Collins during her first election debate with Ardern.
