Natural resources and environment

Ailsa Robertson : HortNZ team lead environment policy

Freshwater Farm Plans at a glance

A Farm Environment Plan (FEP) is a tool that can help growers identify environmental risks and take action where required to demonstrate progress on environmental objectives. FEPs are property-specific and consider a range of factors including local climate and soils, type of growing system, and current management practices. A Freshwater Farm Plan (FWFP) is similar in that growers need to assess property-specific risks to freshwater, such as risk of sediment and nutrient losses to groundwater and surface water and evidence of actions to appropriately manage those risks over time. Like an FEP, a FWFP is a living document that needs to be updated as actions are completed, and if your growing footprint changes, for example, with changing leased land arrangements. A key difference between FEPs and FWFPs is that a FWFP will be tailored to the nature and circumstances of the farming activity, and the context of the catchment i.e., the vulnerability of the freshwater receiving environments. For example, if you grow in a catchment with an aquifer or river with excess levels of nitrates and/or phosphates, your FWFP would need to prioritise best practice for nutrient management. Or, if you grow on sloped or rolling landscape or in a catchment with freshwater impacted by high sediment loads, your FWFP would need to prioritise best practice for erosion and sediment control. The requirement for FWFPs is written into legislation – as a new Part 9A of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 – requiring all horticultural land that is five or more hectares to have an audited and certified FWFP. Freshwater farm plan regulations are expected to take effect in 2022. The requirement for certified freshwater farm plans will be phased in from mid-2022. The government is currently drafting new regulations to give effect to Part 9A. This means there will be national standards for all FWFPs across the country, and regional standards or requirements including catchment values and regional plan rules and limits that need to be reflected in FWFPs.

The regulations will include other details, for example, who can audit and certify FWFPs, and the timing of FWFP implementation across the country. Horticulture New Zealand is advocating for a recognition pathway for the GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) programmes to deliver FWFPs for horticulture. The GAP programmes provide an integrated farm planning pathway, whereby a grower can meet a range of market access and regulatory standards using one system and with one auditor up the drive.

A key difference between FEPs and FWFPs is that a FWFP will be tailored to the nature and circumstances of the farming activity, and the context of the catchment

For growers with an existing FEP using the GAP Environment Management System (EMS) add-on, you are most of the way there. NZGAP is planning a review and update of the EMS to meet the new regulations. HortNZ is currently working with fruit and vegetable growers in the Waimea Plains to develop FWFPs using the existing GAP EMS and test a prototype Part 9A GAP FWFP for horticulture.

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