Ben Stubbs, with children Elijah and Edan are looking forward to hearing the call of the kiwi from their Awatiro farmhouse garden. Four generations of the family have farmed at Awatiro and as they continue making their land safer for native wildlife, their Te Anga Rd neighbours hope to establish a home safe enough for kiwi from Maungatautari to be released there. Chris Gardner talks to the family on pages 6-7.
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Tackling a doddery vampire
A pest plant like “a little Dracula” and found only in Waikato wetlands is being vanquished in shallow graves near Kopuatai Peat Dome.
Seven infestations of the parasitic golden dodder (Cuscuta campestris) were found last March by Department of Conservation staff who were checking a trapline on public conservation land managed by Waikato Regional Council as part of the Waihou-Piako flood scheme.
An eighth infestation was later found.
Golden dodder is an annual pest plant that depends on plant hosts. It was the first time it had been found at Kopuatai, although known sites at Lake Whangape, lakes Rotongaro and Rotongaroiti and Whangamarino Wetland are being actively managed by DOC, and neighbouring properties by the regional council.
Waikato Regional Council Senior Biosecurity Officer Kerry Bodmin says it was decided by both organisations that best way to manage the Cuscuta at the Kopuatai site was to spray it, dig it out and bury it onsite, to hopefully prevent future infestations.
Digging out the top 10 centimetres of soil would remove any seeds in the vicinity and burying the dug-up material at least 50 centimetres in the ground would prevent any seeds surviving germination.
“Hopefully we can do this once and not need to do anymore follow up control, says Bodmin.
“This method is not feasible at Whangape and Whangamarino because of the size of the Cuscuta areas and the wetland environments mean we’d be more likely to lose a digger than anything else.
“At those sites, we do aerial and ground control, but we’re also trialling planting margins with native monocots that are not host species, like flaxes and sedges, with the idea that those plants will grow big enough to outcompete the seed and hosts living there.”
Golden dodder, which is toxic to stock, was found in New Zealand in 1941 and probably arrived as a contaminant of imported crop seeds.
Bodmin says Cuscuta had occurred sparsely around New Zealand in cropping, glasshouse or nursery situations, but it had never established in those environments – only in the Waikato wetlands.
“It’s actually a pretty groovy plant with so many features,” admits Bodmin, who set up the golden dodder management programme when she worked for DOC in her previous role.
“When its seeds germinate, they have to find a host within seven centimetres, or their reserves will run out. Each seedling sends out tendrils that go up and twirl around, anticlockwise, looking for something to wrap around. When it finds a host, it attaches to it with these teeth – I call them teeth but haustoria is the botanical name – and they penetrate the plant so it can suck out all the water and nutrients.
“That’s how it feeds – so it’s like a little Dracula. And that is the only way it can get its nutrients.”
Once attached to a host, Cuscuta just keeps on growing and sending out more tendrils. It can survive on a wide range of crops and weed species, and also some native plants.
Its yellow to orange leafless and hairless threadlike stems, which resemble spaghetti, keep producing more tendrils with “teeth” to coil around host plants and penetrate their stems or leaves.
It grows rapidly into a tangle of up to five metres in two months, even smothering plants that it cannot life on.
Flowering occurs about 51 days after initial attachment and the first viable seeds are present at 60 days. A single plant can produce up to 16,000 seeds that are viable in the ground for up to 10 years.
Bodmin says if left unchecked, golden dodder would increase in abundance in the wetlands, with the potential to spread into surrounding farmlands, other wetland sites, and along access routes
DISHER
WALTERS
and waterways.
“It’s a threat to native ecosystems in wetlands, including bittern habitat, and it’s a threat to the agricultural sector because it can reduce crop yields by 50-75 per cent. In some countries such as Africa, it is a major threat to agriculture and biodiversity, with impacts on crops contributing to economic hardship and famine.”
Golden dodder, Cuscuta campestris, has ‘teeth” which bite into other plants.
Digging out the top 10 centimetres of soil removes any seeds in the vicinity.
Kerry Bodmin says the plant has the potential to spread from wetland to farmland.
Farmers get engaged again
By Chris Gardner
Farmers reconnected with levy funded organisations in 2024 after a time of disconnect, says Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes.
Holmes wrote of a remarkable year of engagement on behalf of all farmers in his end of year message to fellow farmers.
“Our successes include the interface with DairyNZ, Beef and Lamb, FAR to achieve an unprecedented Team Ag momentum,” he said.
Holmes gave the National party led Government credit for “front footing” making farming and business profitable again.
“Not insignificant is the massive reform tranche of work in taking the Resource Management Act back to First Principles – from which all New Zealander will benefit,” he said.
‘Despite carrying the hurt of the almost hysterical rhetoric, farmers have always been good custodians of the land’
– Keith Holmes
“As levy payers the past disconnect between our supposed representative bodies has been a blight on the whole industry – particular as most farmers pay a levy to multiple levy organisations to act on our behalf, only to find them scrapping in public with each other.”
There was good farmer turnout at two DairyNZ events held in the King Country and Waipā district in December.
Federated Farmers was also slowly building relationships with the territorial authorities across the region as well as Waikato Regional Council, Holmes said.
“It is becoming a two-way street,” he said.
“We must never forget the adage that the customer is always right. However, too often, these organisations following their idealistic goals, forgetting who their customers and shareholders are, by not reading the tea leaves.”
“In simple terms, society must re-learn that profit is healthy and with profit we can afford to be aspirational.
“By being both prudent and visionary, we can educate and house our children, have a first-class health system for all and not have to export our children and talent overseas, because we cannot employ them.”
Holme said 2025 would be remembered as the year when the Government decreed freshwater farm plans should come into force.
“Despite carrying the hurt of the almost hysterical rhetoric, farmers have always been good custodians of the land.
“However today, the price of being dependent on world trade and our largely urban population, trust isn’t a given anymore and so farm plans will be another hurdle we have to negotiate.
“In addition to farm plans, the Western Waikato will also have the added challenge of Plan Change One.
“While currently still before the
Environment Court, we are extremely grateful to our PC1 Team and Team Ag for the massive amount of work, they have
borne tirelessly, to get pragmatism and practicality fused into these pending farming rules.”
Feds demand an explanation
By Chris Gardner
Operational Solutions for Primary Industries (Ospri) is being asked to explain a $16.6 million write-off related to the failure of a major software project.
Ospri’s Informations Systems Strategic Programme was meant to add functionality to the MyOspri portal, integrating new National Animal Identification and Tracing (Nait) functionality.
Federated Farmers Waikato vice president Andrew Reymer made the request for a meeting with the board and a quarterly report after a remit requesting Federated Farmers be given a seat for a farmer who “understands the principle of good governance” on the Ospri board failed.
Federated Farmers is not a shareholder of the organisation and does not qualify for a seat.
“We do not have the power to demand that,” Reymer told The News following a discussion at the Federated Farmers National Council of Provisional Presidents.
Ospri, a partnership between primary industries and the government, manages the National Animal Identification and Tracing (Nait) and TBfree New Zealand national programmes.
Ospri chair Paul Reynolds resigned in October, following the failure, and was replaced by Fenton Wilson.
Reymer’s remit said Ospri’s inability to integrate Nait with third party software providers put the primary industry at greater risk, duplicated the regulatory load for farmers and resulted in a poor fiscal outcome for levy payers.
Nait is only currently available to support beef, dairy and deer livestock with no ability to track sheep or pigs, both industries that would benefit from traceability in a major disease outbreak, the remit said.
“The ownership structure of Ospri being partially owned by the levy bodies was supposed to be able to provide farmer ownership.
The levy bodies as it stands have very little engagement with grass roots farmers, unlike Federated Farmers.
“The proposal to dissolve the Ospri stakeholder council which appoints the Board of Ospri, means there will be even less farmer oversight over who is appointed to oversee the key Ospri projects, like the Nait software rebuild.
“These projects have the potential to lose sight of what the end user needs, and how critical third-party software integration is to this, especially in the event of a major disease outbreak.
“The current board is made up of professional directors which lack ‘skin in the game’.”
“We want to try and get a bit more of a handle on what’s going on,” Reymer told The News.
“A lot of the things they did were not really farmer proof. We just want to make sure that they are on the right track. Ospri must meet and report quarterly to Federated Farmers.”
Ospri has been contacted for comment.
Judge Valley Dairies farmer John Hayward welcomed fellow farmers onto his farm last year through DairyNZ. See further story, Page 10.
REGIONAL COUNCILLOR’S VIEW
A matter of principles
By Clyde Graf , Waipa-King Country councillor
During its last meeting, Waikato Regional Council was required to consider a political statement for submission to the Treaty Principles Bill Justice Select Committee.
However, councillors only received the submission on the afternoon prior to the council meeting (instead of the usual five working days).
The public were also short-changed by this manoeuvre - the document was not made available for public scrutiny until the day of the meeting.
The submission, moved by Stu Kneebone and seconded by Noel Smith, was written by council’s iwi relationships team, not councillors. Warren Maher, chair of the Policy and Strategy Committee, declared his frustration at the poor procedural process, and the short notice councillors were given to consider the document. As a result, councillors Maher, Cookson, Dunbar-Smith, Hughes and I voted against the submission, and councillor Downard abstained.
The submission’s introduction says “thank you for the opportunity to submit on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Waikato Regional Council (WRC) opposes this bill and advocates for its abandonment. The bill seeks to eliminate the principle of partnership with iwi and hapū, undermining the foundations of co-governance, co-management and collaboration.
This submission reflects our council’s commitment to upholding the Treaty of Waitangi and fostering robust co-governance and comanagement partnerships with iwi and hapū.”
In my opinion, this was a staff submission, not a council submission. A political statement supported by eight of 14 councillors (including both Māori ward members) – is certainly not consensus. Yet the document was submitted as if all of council agreed to it. My request to have the
vote outcome included within the submission, for clarity, was rejected, and therefore the inferred support for the document was misleading and deceptive.
The eight councillors who supported this ratepayer-funded submission – Kneebone, Smith, Clarkson, Storey, Strange, Nickel, Mahuta and Hodge - have effectively used council as a political soap box to progress personal points of view. Support or oppose the Act Party’s bill, this was never the business of council as a whole.
As councillors, we’re instructed not to submit on political issues, to be seen as keeping an open mind. Once our position has been publicly declared, we’re told, predetermination excludes us from voting on those issues.
Already this term, Chris Hughes has been excluded from voting on Long Term Plan decisions because of personal submissions made earlier in the year.
Are those councillors who spoke to and supported this submission now excluded from voting on similar issues?
Presenting late agenda items and addendums appears to be a tactic used when council is required to consider controversial issues. Section 46 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 states that agenda items must be publicly available at least two working days before the date of the announced meeting, preferably more.
This is not the first time controversial issues have appeared late on the council agenda. Let’s hope it’s the last.
That is my personal view.
RURAL VIEW
A question of costs
By Richard Steele
Fonterra’s price forecast for the current season is a good confidence boost for the dairy industry, and a testament to competent senior management, coupled with strong demand for useful products.
The challenge as always will be hanging on to the money you make.
Decades ago, the trouble with supplementary minimum prices (SMPs) supplementing produce prices was that farm input costs always increased to the maximum the market could stand, so the benefits of the subsidies were very short lived, and highly inflationary.
The projected price increases now will be little different now I fear. Because Myles Hurrell and his team have done a great job for Fonterra shareholders, there is no guarantee for future prosperity unless everybody else contains their costs.
Banks may well lower their interest rates, but not necessarily other charges.
Both district and regional council rates spiral out of control at a far higher rate than inflation. Their tutored projections of increases show little sign of any business acumen.
Fuel and fertiliser prices have always been a rort in my opinion, with competition between companies being at a lip service only level.
That the two large fert co-ops are always within a few cents per tonne of each other has always struck me as suspicious.
Federated Farmers continues to be New Zealand’s best advocate, even though their budget is a third of the compulsory beef and lamb, and a sixth of the Dairy NZ levies. It is a testament to an accountable lobby group flying against the odds.
Everyone gets rich at our expense whether they deserve it or not.
So my message is a simple one, it’s not so much making more money that’s important, it’s hanging on to it.
Today I read an opinion, that our growth rate, economically, is struggling, and here in lies a deeply disturbing economic failing. Why do we need to keep our economy growing at 3.5 per cent a year. Why can’t we just aim to stay in the same place?
So inflation is always public enemy no one, as without inflation, we could always live on what we have now.
When God invented economists, I think she did so, just to make weather forecasters look good.
Deal provides opportunities
A trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates is seen as offering significant opportunities for the red meat sector.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister for Trade Todd McClay signed the UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in Abu Dhabi last week.
The Emirates eliminate tariffs on frozen beef and sheep meat from New Zealand. Chilled products are already tariff-free.
Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the agreement will provide a significant opportunity to New Zealand’s red meat sector with potential to grow.
“It is among the world’s wealthiest economies and there is increasing demand in the market for the high-quality, safe, sustainable, and nutritious products that New Zealand can provide.
“With a population where over 75 per cent are Muslim, the UAE is a key halal market that is increasingly looking for reliable sources of high-quality red meat that meets their strict halal expectations.
“Halal-certified exports made up 37 percent of total red meat exports in 202324 – New Zealand is well placed to meet the UAE’s red meat needs.”
Beef and Lamb New Zealand chief executive Alan Thomson said the entry into force of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement comes at a crucial time for sheep and beef farmers following a challenging two years on-farm and headwinds in global markets.
“New Zealand farmers are raising sheep and cattle to provide the UAE market with the high-quality protein they are seeking.
“Improving market access settings for New Zealand’s beef and sheep meat is critical to the wellbeing of our sector, with approximately 60 per cent of export revenues flowing through to farmers.
“We know food security is a priority for the UAE with international trade identified as a key enabler, and beef in particular, cited in their strategy as a key food item to secure supply in.”
Wormwise with livestock
By Michael Catley, Veterinarian, King Country Vets
This is the first of a two part series on the impact of worms.
The impact of worms on production begins as soon as larvae are ingested from pasture.
The affect this has is a continuum, from no exposure (and no impact) to the presence of heavy burdens leading to disease and death.
There is a cut-off point where the worm burden causes clinical parasitism, such as scouring, dehydration and weight loss, but before this point is reached there is a production limiting affect called sub-clinical parasitism.
Minimising these effects optimises growth rates in your stock and increases efficiency and profitability.
Animals pick up infective L3 larvae from the paddock when grazing pasture (L1 & L2 larvae can be picked up but are not infective).
These larvae are foreign to the animal in a similar way to bacteria and viruses.
The level of contamination will determine the level of impact.
Any level of worm burden, even when drenches are used every 21 days, will cause a growth rate depression in livestock.
These affects are due to stock spending less time grazing and more time lying down due
to parasitism, as well as the immune response the animals mount to the worm larvae picked up. Therefore, the more worms picked up, the bigger the depression in growth rates.
Young animals have no specific immunity to worms and as a result the worms establish and become ‘resident’ in the animal, multiplying worm populations which become a major source of contamination.
Young animals also use a large amount of energy and protein to grow, so are highly susceptible to the effect of parasites.
Cattle and sheep generally develop full immunity by 18-20 months of age.
Exposure to worms is important to develop immunity – and there is no shortage of exposure to them with pasture grazing - so a successful worm management plan minimises exposure of worms to young stock to allow an immune building response, while minimising growth and nutritional impacts.
Next time, we will focus on worm biology and how understanding this can improve management of pastures and animals.
Sirma Karapeeva
Alan Thomson
VET’S VIEW
Waiting for the kiwi
By Chris Gardner
The Stubbs family of Awatiro Farm are preparing for the return of kiwi.
“There’s talk of creating a Kiwi sanctuary nearby,” said sheep and beef farmer Ben Stubbs.
He’s from the fourth generation of the family to farm Awatiro off Te Anga Road near Waitomo village, and the family has found kiwi bones in its cave system over the years.
“The sanctuary will bring their genetics back to our place.”
Rick and Moira Haddrell, who own neighbouring land, are exploring reducing predators to the extent that they can establish a home for some Kiwi from Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain in the Waipā district.
The Haddrells hope to have their land ready next year, with the support of neighbours.
“There’s a huge part to play for this area to make this a success,” Ben Stubbs said. “It will really drive some changes on the farm. It’s a must for the King Country.”
He grew up on the farm before leaving home to train in fine arts and teaching and securing a teaching job at a Morrinsville school.
He returned to farming at Awatiro, a name chosen by his great grandfather Hugh, 21 years ago after his father Alister, mother Ann and uncle Antony, sought help running the farm and continuing the Stubbs legacy.
Ben and his wife Bex, a fine arts teacher at Te Kūiti High School, are about to vest an extra 20 to 30 hectares into its Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant.
In so doing they hope to help return more land to its natural state and protect more native flora and fauna species on the 663ha farm.
“About half is QEII land,” Ben said.
“We began divesting it in the 1980s. Ever since we have been adding a little bit here and there.
“It helps improve the quality of the ecosystem. More and more we are looking for opportunities.”
They have a native tree planting programme, mainly grown from seed collected on the farm.
“This is grown on by volunteers in Hamilton and then planted using volunteers when we can. The areas now encompass over half the farm including four headwaters.”
The Stubbs do it for love, and to protect the environment surrounding the farm for future generations.
“We have seen a huge amount of regrowth in the trees and controlled possums to some degree.”
The Stubbs have set possum traps all over the farm. Alister, 84, enjoys a daily drive across the farm to check them, capturing about 130 between mid-November and our visit in mid-January.
They also get a little, much welcome, rate relief on the vested land.
“I don’t believe there’s enough rate relief,” Ben said. “I think there could be a bit more in it for farmers.”
The Stubbs are also involved in a community driven Waitomo water catchment group, whose members have been focussed on improving water quality in the district for 30 years.
“The whole community is behind that, and it’s a really good model,” Ben said.
“Recently we have identified areas which will qualify for carbon credits. These areas while not huge will give an ongoing passive income until 2050.”
Awatiro is a sheep and beef farm. The Stubbs stopped cropping on the land about 15 years ago.
“We lost a lot of topsoil in the rain,” Ben said.
The rain came shortly after planting, so there was no root system to speak off to retain it.
The Stubbs run 1100 Romney Texel
Awatiro Farm has been farmed by the Stubbs family since 1914.
cross ewes, and their lambs, on the farm, producing thousands of kilograms of wool each season.
“Prices are a lot more stable than last year, prices are reasonable, not terrible,” he said.
“But we are still shearing our own sheep because we can’t afford to get people into do it.”
The flock is sheared twice a year. Ben’s son Elijah, 20, takes leave from his trapping job to help his parents out.
His sister, Te Kūiti High School pupil Edan, 16, is on hand with a broom to sweep the wool into a large pile.
“Wool is a fabulous product. However wool prices while improving have a long way
to go before we see a return.
“Sheep on the sort of country we farm will always have a place. Getting the mix right between sheep/beef/trees and tourism is the challenge.”
The Stubbs also run 60 breeding cows built from a dairy beef cross using a Hereford bull over all.
“The last few seasons have been very challenging with high interest rates, increasing costs and lower returns,” Ben said.
“I am hopeful that the beef market will continue to perform well and that lamb prices will hold on better than we have seen recently.”
Elijah and Edan are the fifth generation of Stubbs to be raised on the farm, and one day Elijah is planning to take over from his parents.
“I will take over, and do what is ever needed to be done,” Elijah said.
Other family members make a living off the farm.
Ben’s brother, Angus, runs Tetiro Bed and Breakfast with his wife Rach, and his sister Biddy and her partner Rich Kersel run Rock Retreat Bed and Breakfast.
“Many farms have retired significant areas of land to improve water quality, planting trees and restoring existing native forest,” Ben said.
“As these areas heal over time there will be further challenges to control pest species.
“For farmers in the Waitomo catchment, we are mindful of the fact that the water that flows from our land passes through the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. A thriving tourist destination.
“Farms are multidimensional spaces. A decision in one area may affect another.
“One benefit of being on a fifthgeneration farm is hindsight.
“Our challenge as a family continues to be working to achieve a balance on both sides of the fence.”
Elijah Stubbs, 20, left, and Ben Stubbs, 56, shearing in the Awatiro shearing shed, while Edan Stubbs, 16, prepares to sweep up.
Alister Stubbs checks a possum trap on Awatiro Farm. “Anything to get outdoors,” he says.
Keep a close eye: your responsibility for grazed livestock
Stay hands-on: why checking your grazed livestock matters
When your livestock are grazing offsite, your legal responsibilities under the Animal Welfare Act remain firmly with you. Their care doesn’t take a holiday, and neither should your involvement. Here’s why regular check-ins are essential:
• Monitor growth and health – Insist on regular weigh-ins and detailed reports from the grazier. Numbers tell part of the story, but being present at some sessions allows you to verify accuracy and see your animals’ condition firsthand. Early detection of issues, like lameness, can prevent long-term problems and ensure timely treatment.
• Hold graziers accountable – A “set and forget” approach risks your animals’ welfare. Make unannounced visits to confirm they’re receiving the feed, water, and care described in reports. This keeps the grazier accountable and ensures your livestock are thriving.
• Support young stock development –Young stock are at a critical stage of growth. Regular checks help ensure they are meeting weight targets, receiving adequate nutrition, and developing well for a productive future.
Being a hands-on owner not only protects your animals’ well-being but also ensures you meet your legal obligations. Your animals depend on you to advocate for their welfare— wherever they are. Need advice? We suggest you speak with your solicitor or contact the team at Edmonds Judd – we are here to help!
Fiona Jack
Update for calculator
By Chris Gardner
DairyNZ says it will continue to update its Dairy Effluent Storage Calculator (Desc) to keep it fit for purpose after it was labelled “a dog” that had never been ground truthed.
The dairy-farmer levy funded organisation, based in Hamilton, issued a statement from DairyNZ general manager of farm systems and policy David Burger after Agricultural Business Associates natural resource engineer Fred Phillips questioned the effectiveness of the tool at a meeting of the Waikato Federated Farmers executive.
Phillips claimed the Desc model, which had never been ground-truthed on low-risk soils, significantly over predicted storage requirements on free draining soils.
He estimated 120,000 hectares, or about 17 per cent of the 685,542ha dairy land in the Waikato, was incorrectly designated as High Risk including about 60 per cent or more of the region’s peat based agricultural soils.
“At best this is just irresponsible,” Phillips said. “The excessive storage being recommended as a result of this misinformation has a cost of about $400 per hectare or $48 million and it has zero environmental benefit.”
Burger said until there was new research or advice supporting the assumption that high infiltration rates on lowrisk soils was not an environmental issue, it was reluctant to update the tool, and the good practice advice it provided, based on advice from experts and independent scientists.
“DairyNZ will continue to update the Desc to keep it fit for purpose and welcome all engagement on this,” Burger added.
DairyNZ provides Desc to dairy farmers to demonstrate their system can comply with regional council rules, while maximizing their use of a key farm resource.
It provides the farmer with the required storage volume assuming irrigation occurs on every possible day at the chosen irrigation rate and pumping volume.
More storage provides the ability to differ irrigation during
busy times of the year and more strategic use of a valuable farm nutrient.
“We’ve worked directly with Fred and others over the past few years to keep modifying the calculator including updating general useability, the platform format and its performance on free draining soils, and we have also undertaken a review of the tool with scientists from Massey University and AgResearch,” Burger said.
“Following this review, we made changes to how irrigation is scheduled on low-risk soils. Specifically, the tool now allows for more irrigation days than the old version, as application depths below 10mm reduce due to the Desc combining rain drainage and farm dairy effluent (FDE) irrigation drainage caping at 10mm. The old version did not allow for irrigation on a drainage day.”
DairyNZ recommended dairy farmers engage with an Irrigation New Zealand accredited system designer when installing a new effluent pond to identify regional council requirements.
“The advice from AgResearch specialists at the time was that higher rates of infiltration on free draining/low ponding risk soils remains an environmental risk, not only for nitrogen but also for the fate and transport of pathogens and phosphorus.
“The risk to try and avoid is farmers putting in a system with very low storage now, who may then need to invest in a new system in future. Having enough storage provides flexibly in management during unusual wet seasons and better use of the nutrients captured. “
Waikato Regional Council’s Strategy and Policy Committee voted in November for the council to undertake desktopbased geospatial work to update the existing map of soil risk for farm dairy effluent.
It also voted to approach DairyNZ to discuss the potential revision and update of the Desc user guidance regarding the sources and use of soil information for establishing soil risk as input data for the calculator.
An effluent irrigation system helps the grass grow on a Waikato farm.
History against waste plans
By Chris Gardner
Fonterra has raised concerns Global Contracting Solutions may not comply with council rules as part of its objection to a major a waste to energy plant in Waipā.
In its submission to an Environmental Protection Agency board of inquiry due to be heard in June, the dairy farmer owned co-operative authorised agent Mark Chrisp raised the compliance history of the applicant’s parent company Global Metal Solutions Limited.
“In 2022, Global Metal Solutions Limited was ordered to pay $134,900 to Hamilton City Council in respect of enforcement order proceedings... to deal with the impact of noise (including persistent breaches of the noise limits in the Hamilton City District Plan) from its metal recycling business,” Chrisp said.
Global Contracting Solutions wants to build the plant in Racecourse Rd Te Awamutu and the importance of Fonterra’s nearby 140-year-old manufacturing site on Alexandra Street, air quality and customer perception was at the top of the list of Fonterra’s objections.
“The Waipā District Plan reiterates the importance of the Te Awamutu site and the need to ensure compatible activities establish adjacent to the Te Awamutu site,” Chrisp said. Waipā District Council has also objected to the plan.
“The food producing activities that are carried out on these sites are sensitive to other industrial activities.”
On the subject of air quality, Chrisp said as a food manufacturer, Fonterra had concerns regarding the implications of any activity in proximity to the Te Awamutu site that discharges emissions to air that could affect or compromise Fonterra’s existing or potentially future operations.
“These concerns include potential impacts on food safety, risk of contaminants entering the dairy manufacturing facilities and the subsequent response required by Fonterra to manage the elevated risk, the impact on Fonterra’s food safety certification, and the health and safety of staff and contractors who work at the Te Awamutu Site,” Chrisp said.
“As part of its overseas operations, Fonterra’s experience
that other waste to energy facilities have not established in close proximity to its food processing operations.”
Fonterra was also concerned with customer perception, as domestic and international customers were concerned with any perceived or real food safety risk associated with the combustion of waste products in such close proximity to its Te Awamutu site.
The submission aligned with comments made by Waipā district mayor Susan O’Regan who told councillors last year she was concerned with the impact the plant would have on agriculture locally and regionally if the consent was granted.
Adequacy of information was another concern, Chrisp said.
“Fonterra considers that the application is deficient in information as to how the ongoing activities at the application site are to be managed. For example, for an
application of this nature, it is surprising that a comprehensive suite of proposed consent conditions and draft management plans have not been prepared in support of the application, given that ongoing management will be required to maintain air emissions as has been modelled in the Application. This lack of information provides no confidence to Fonterra as to how operations will be managed on an ongoing basis, should resource consent be granted. Without details of how ongoing effects will be managed, it is difficult to determine how it could be concluded that effects will be “no more than minor.”
Fonterra was also concerned with flooding, land use compatibility, alignment with the Waikato Regional Policy Statement, the district plan’s specialised dairy industrial overlay status.
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Plans for the energy plant prompted the creation of a lobby group, Don’t Burn Waipā, which took to the streets in Te Awamutu to protest. is
The value of adding some shade
By Rachael Mitchell
While it has been my experience that farmers generally view the benefits of riparian planting to be water filtration and sediment control, the benefits of shading have recently been highlighted by a DairyNZ field day at Judge Valley Dairies, near Te Awamutu.
John Hayward and Susan O’Regan have been strong advocates for sustainable stewardship and riparian planting of their property and were winners of the Supreme Ballance Farm Environment Awards in 2016. They are heavily involved in collaborating to understand the added value of the environmental work they undertake on their dairy farm. The Dairy NZ field day hand out from the event was a wealth of information on the positive impacts of stream vegetation restoration on aquatic life.
Riparian planting is one of the great onfarm environmental activities with several obvious bonuses. By fencing stock back from streams, grass or planted buffers slow overland flow into streams and drains. This allows the water to drop out sediment –the slower water flows, the more sediment settles out.
Phosphorus binds strongly to soil, therefore less sediment equals less phosphorus loss. The longer the water spends in contact with sunlight, the more E. coli can be killed by UV-B radiation before reaching the waterway. And let’s not forget that in the process stock have been prevented from entering the stream reducing direct additions of faecal material and stream back erosion. Plenty of good
things happening here.
If we add native plantings into this mix, we can also create corridors connecting up longer stretches of river or creating rest areas and new habitat for fauna moving through the area.
Even low mobility species, for example native beetles and North Island robins, can move between habitats which are less than three kilometres apart.
For those of you that have undertaken native plantings, or considering doing so, none of this will be news to you. However, the impact of these riparian plantings can have a directly beneficial impact on native aquatic life.
We may expect this from the reduction of nutrients ending up in the waterway, however this is not where the benefit arises.
There is a stronger correlation between shading of streams, and correspondingly lowered water temperatures, than there is from contaminant levels (in this case nitrogen, phosphorus, E. Coil and sediment) in those waterways.
At the recent field day, one of the most interesting learnings was how the temperature of the waterway provides a natural barrier to exotic and pest aquatic species.
The stretch of stream being looked at was about four kilometres upstream of a monitoring site on the Mangapiko Stream where at least four pest species of fish were visibly present in the water.
With no physical barrier to this upstream section, eDNA1 testing found no trace of pest fish in sampling from this water. eDNA is a recent addition to the
environmental tool box and allows water samples to be processed to extract DNA from any creatures that have been in contact with that site.
This can be directly from the source (scales, faeces, shedding) or indirectly from within faeces. The results present a summary, in several formats, to allow benchmarking and monitoring. eDNA sampling is available to anyone, it is not a laboratory-based technology.
In another fortunate co-incidence, exotic fish prefer warmer water, whereas native macroinvertebrates will not survive in stream temperatures over 22° Celsius. Shaded streams enhance habitat for native species and can actively exclude exotic species.
Rachael Mitchell is a Senior Consultant at Perrin Ag, specialising in environmental and ecological work.
Farmer
A Judge Valley short-fin eel.
Banks urged to abandon alliance
Kiwi banks and their overseas parent companies should follow the lead of America’s six biggest banks and withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance, Federated Farmers say.
Since the start of December, heavyweights JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs have all left the UN-backed banking alliance.
“These big US banks have seen that their involvement in the Net Zero Banking Alliance is about to come under huge scrutiny,” said Federated Farmers banking spokesperson Richard McIntyre.
“They’re leaving in droves because of lawsuits for anti-competitive behaviour within the banking sector and growing political pressure.
“Federated Farmers are now calling on our banks to do the same. They need to do the right thing and withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance - and fast.”
Last month Federated Farmers went to the Commerce Commission asking for an urgent investigation into the lending
practices of New Zealand banks.
The complaint relates to potentially anti-competitive, coordinated, cartel-like behaviour from the banks, driven by their involvement in the international Net Zero Banking Alliance.
The Net Zero Banking Alliance is an international group committed to aligning their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
McIntyre says with five major banks dominating 97 per cent of the agricultural lending market in New Zealand, farmers should be asking serious questions of their bank managers.
“All five of those banks are either directly members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance or are indirectly affiliated through their parent companies: BNZ, ANZ, ASB, Westpac, and Rabobank.
“Federated Farmers have some very serious concerns about the potential alignment of lending policies and anticompetitive cartel-like behaviour to the detriment of farmers.
“We think this issue deserves some real scrutiny from the Commerce Commission, but also from the banking inquiry currently before Parliament.
“Most of the banking chairs and chief executives have already appeared before the Select Committee, but I think they should be hauled back in to answer some more questions.”
BNZ is a direct member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, having joined in 2021. Westpac, ANZ, ASB, and Rabobank are all affiliated with the alliance through their offshore parent companies.
The banks reference their Net Zero Banking Alliance obligations in their various sustainability reports and internal banking policies for who they will, or won’t, provide lending to.
Several of the banks have already started putting in place targets for various sectors, including reductions in financed agricultural emissions by 2030.
“Most of these banks are starting to set emissions reduction targets for farmers that look remarkably similar, and that’s a major
red flag for us,” McIntyre says.
“That’s why we’re starting to raise serious questions about potential anti-competitive behaviour and collusion that removes choices for farmers.
“There is also a sovereignty issue here where we effectively have a group of foreign-owned banks coordinating and acting as pseudo-regulators for the New Zealand economy.
“These banks are collectively setting emissions reduction targets for farmers that go much further than the targets set by our democratically elected Government.”
McIntyre says he’s also increasingly concerned about what will happen to farmers if they are unable to meet banks’ emission reduction targets by 2030.
“Will we effectively be de-banked and unable to access the capital we need to run our businesses, like we’re starting to see happen with petrol stations?
“Given the significance of farming and agricultural exports to the economy, this should be something that concerns all New Zealanders.”
Methane breakthrough closer
Dairy farmers are a step closer to breeding cows with lower methane emissions and reducing their agricultural carbon footprint without compromising farm productivity.
A study, led in conjunction by Livestock Improvement Corporation and cattle improvement company CRV, and funded by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre began in 2020 with a small-scale pilot trial involving methane testing of 20 bulls.
Research presented recently at the New Zealand Agriculture and Climate Change Conference 2024 has shown how the programme has evolved.
More than 1000 young bulls and 393 yearling heifers have had their methane emissions and feed intake measured, with the goal of introducing a methane breeding value to all LIC and CRV artificial breeding bulls from late 2026.
The findings, presented by LIC’s Senior Scientist Dr Lorna McNaughton, show that genetic variation can influence how much methane is produced by heifers and that bulls identified as low methane emitters
pass this trait on to their daughters.
In the first phase of the research, it was found that bulls varied by up to 20 per cent in the amount of methane emitted per kilogram of feed consumed.
During this phase, the highest and lowest emitting sires were selected to produce a herd of daughters at Pāmu Farms of New Zealand’s Wairakei Estate in the Central Plateau.
The emissions from these daughters having recently been measured.
“Throughout the programme we’ve been able to rigorously monitor and measure bulls and heifers to confirm that bulls with low methane emissions could produce daughters emitting less methane per kilogram of feed consumed,” says LIC Chief Scientist Dr Richard Spelman.
“This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the genetic variation between high-emitting and low-emitting bulls and we’re now looking forward to the next critical step where we’ll measure emissions from their daughters during their first milking season in 2025.”
To support this next step, a state-of-the-
art research barn is being constructed to allow for the large-scale monitoring of these lactating cows.
“While the last three years of results are promising, and closely aligned to our predictions, this next stage of testing will allow us to confirm the research finding across generations,” says Peter van Elzakker, Grass Fed Genetics Manager at CRV.
With nearly half of New Zealand’s carbon emissions attributed to methane, this research illustrates how the Agri-sector is working together to support the nation’s climate aspirations.
“I’m extremely proud to be part of the solution when it comes to emissionsintensity reduction targets and I am excited by the future prospect of offering farmers low methane-emitting genetic solutions,” says LIC Chief Executive, David Chin.
“This research is just one example of how we must work together and continue to innovate as we look for new ways to address climate challenges and I’m excited to see the work progress into 2025,” says CRV Managing Director, James Smallwood.
FARM SERVICES
A heifer eats lucerne hay cubes via a feed bin which measures how much each animal eats.
