And now, Freshwater Farm Plans

BY: CHARLOTTE GLASS

From Farm Environment Plans to Freshwater Farm Plans – why the change and what’s the difference?

Many farmers across New Zealand have been using Farm Environment Plans as their first step to recognising and managing the impact of farming on the wider receiving environment.

The Essential Freshwater Package released in August 2020, notes the requirement for farmers to have Freshwater Farm Plans in place in order to plan and manage the impact of farming operations on freshwater quality.

These new plans will make up one of the modules within a broader Farm Planning Framework. The details of these plans are still emerging, and the Government is now in a consultation phase seeking feedback on the content, outcomes and certification/ audit aspects associated with these plans.

The Farm Environment Plans many farmers are already using have provided a useful structure to consider and manage how our farming operations impact the environment.

The Freshwater Farm Plan introduces more catchment context to our plans and requires a better understanding of how water moves through a whole catchment, not just one farm in isolation. It will also introduce more awareness of the concept of Te Mana O Te Wai, or “the life-force of water”. This concept is easy for farming people to relate to, simply put, it means, when the water is healthy, then the life it supports is healthy too.

Achieving “healthy water” now has a higher priority when seeking permission from councils to undertake farming activities that require their consent.

Freshwater Farm Plans will be central to farmers being able to understand and communicate how their farming supports maintenance or improvement of freshwater quality. The intention is that these are living documents and capture continuous improvement and learning.

As our understanding of the connection of water and lag phases between farming activities and impact in the catchment improves over time, then farmers’ Freshwater Farm Plans will become more specific too.

They will continue to include an assessment of risk from farming activities on water quality from nutrient management, waterways, land and soil, effluent and water use (including irrigation), and will be useful in communicating winter grazing strategies too.

Farmers are familiar with the balance that is important in grassland ecosystems.

Sheep, cattle and deer eat pasture, and in doing so feed the soil by cycling nutrients back in dung and urine which in turn allows more grass to grow. The same sort of balance is important for freshwater ecosystems to thrive too.

Tools that help farmers consider the habitat and health of freshwater ecosystems on farms are now more accessible and will become increasingly important as a means of communicating the health and quality of freshwater. By being aware of the nonfarmed species that are, or were once present in our catchments, farmers can seek to support the appropriate balance and habitat for them to thrive in conjunction with our productive farmed species.

Freshwater Farm Plans should provide a framework to prompt farmers to weave these aspects together. We don’t yet have perfect knowledge or measurement of these indicators at farm scale and gaps in science and current knowledge will be exposed. Farmers will play an important role in developing a deeper understanding of the interaction of farming with broader freshwater systems.

For those that have already prepared a Farm Environment Plan, and particularly those that have already had those plans audited, then the Freshwater Farm Plan is expected to be a subtle change. It will need to be certified by someone who is accredited to ensure it is “fit for purpose” and then audited 18 months after certification and then every three years.

For those farmers that have never completed a Farm Environment Plan, your industry bodies can help get you started. They have templates you can use and provide workshops to get you started or you can connect with professionals who specialise in working with farmers. It might sound like something new or different, but for people who understand dynamic systems as farmers do, it really isn’t that new!

The Freshwater Farm Plan introduces more catchment context to our plans and requires a better understanding of how water moves through a whole catchment, not just one farm in isolation.

As our understanding of the connection of water and lag phases between farming activities and impact in the catchment improves over time, then farmers’ Freshwater Farm Plans will become more specific too.

• Charlotte Glass is a consultant and director of Agri Magic, a farm systems consultancy company that specialises in environmental aspects.