Canterbury farm monitoring shows huge environmental progress
Supplied by Federated Farmers
Data showing Canterbury farmers have made giant strides on environmental performance under a farm plan model highlights the worth of that tool, Federated Farmers vice president Colin Hurst says.
The number of farms receiving A grades in Farm Environment Plan audits in the province has jumped from 14% in 2017 to 77% during 2024/25, Environment Canterbury (ECan) says.
The number of C and D grades dropped from 12% to 2% over the same period.
ECan introduced the plan audits to check that farm practices were being managed to reduce risks to water quality and to protect mahinga kai (food gathering) values.
"The huge progress on stock and nutrient management, handling effluent, pinpointing erosion risk and other aspects covered by these plans shows the vast majority of farmers are highly motivated to lift their game," Hurst says.
"Our sector is constantly being bagged by certain greenie groups as uncaring stewards of land and water, yet these results show completely the opposite.
"Farmers are frustrated by this sort of criticism - anyone would be.
"Maybe the findings from this independent monitoring by the regional council will blunt some of the carping we face from some quarters."
In releasing seven years of Farm Environment Plan (FEP) data this week, ECan noted a big shift in how Good Management Practice is interpreted and applied.
"Guidelines have tightened up and there's been lots of great feedback from industry on that as well, so that's been quite a collaborative effort," the ECan statement said.
Hurst says Federated Farmers has consistently argued that progress on environmental indicators takes time, and the pace is picking up. That is also backed up by the ECan audits.
The audits show that farmers in Selwyn are outperforming the wider Canterbury results by about 10%. This reflects the fact that FEPs were introduced in that district first, with on-boarding of the rest of the province happening on average two-to-three years later.
"Both Canterbury and Selwyn have lifted, but Selwyn led the way - A grades have become the norm and C and D grades are now almost gone," ECan said.
A standout area of performance has been irrigation management.
Ground water nitrates are also trending down.
Central Plains Water Limited’s (CPWL) latest groundwater monitoring shows nitrate levels have been trending down in most wells the company monitors over the past five years.
FEP auditor Charlotte Senior says that’s no coincidence.
"That’s farmers making changes and sticking with them. Efforts are really starting to add up," she says.
The next big change expected in Canterbury, and around the rest of New Zealand, is the rollout of Freshwater Farm Plans, or as farmers know them, farm plans.
With the overhaul of the Resource Management Act, the Government has said that farm plans will be a key tool.
They’ve pledged that these will be flexible and farmer-led, helping farmers identify environmental risks on their farm and then plan practical actions to manage these.
Hurst says Federated Farmers agrees that farm plans should become the primary compliance tool where there is a risk to the environment.
"The aim should be to replace complex, overlapping farm regulations with a single, practical, risk-based farm planning system that improves environmental outcomes while reducing unnecessary compliance and cost."