Reflecting on the journey of environmental farm planning in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Environmental farm planning in New Zealand dates to the 1950s when soil conversation plans were first undertaken. Since then the extent and complexity of whole farm sustainability along with regulatory drivers and environmental compliance targets has increased. The public, and consumers, both domestically and internationally, are placing ever increasing demands and expectations on farmers to deliver high-quality produce with strong environmental values. Regulatory reform is challenging, with the details around the implementation process varying and far from clear. National-scale freshwater farm plans will be mandatory and enforceable in New Zealand within a few years. How this will deliver a clearer pathway to integrated resource management and provide the primary sectors with a tool to be world leaders in environmental management will depend upon plans being farmer centric and owned and adding value to their business.

KEYWORDS:

• Farm environment plan
• water quality
• mitigation actions
• integrated farm planning
• regulatory reform

Acknowledgements

All views expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisations with which they are affiliated. We acknowledge the Our Land and Water, National Science Challenge of New Zealand who supported RWM while writing this forum paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).