Canterbury dairy farms flout environmental rules - report

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More than half of Canterbury's dairy farms do not fully comply with environmental rules, a new report has found.

Of the 851 farms monitored, 43.2 per cent fully complied with effluent-management rules in the 2008-09 season – down from 45.8 per cent the previous season, the Environment Canterbury (ECan) report found.

It also found one in five dairy farms in Canterbury strayed significantly from the effluent-management plans issued for dairy-conversion consents.

"Little significant change" had occurred in the past five seasons, the report said.

The number of dairy farms in Canterbury has risen by 23 per cent since last season – 851 compared with 696.

ECan regulation director Kim Drummond said the results showed another year of "flatlining" performances by dairy farms. The council had implemented initiatives in the past year to try to improve progress.

"We are hopeful that we'll make some difference over the coming years," he said. "We are taking a much more proactive approach in getting that message across."

Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury president Michael Morrow said the non-compliance issues were often insignificant.

"The definition of non-compliance can often be fairly trivial sometimes. If you have not got your consent nailed to the dairy shed wall, that can be non-compliance," he said. "These are not breaches that are a threat to the environment."

Drummond said he wanted to see the greatest improvement in the 20 per cent of serious non-compliance cases.

"We have ramped up the use of the other tools we've got under the RMA (Resource Management Act) because we are taking a firmer line," he said.

"We've issued more infringement notices for things that perhaps last year wouldn't have attracted an infringement notice.

- © Fairfax NZ News