The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord: Snapshot of Progress – 2006/2007

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. Progress against the targets

3. Areas of focus in 2006/2007

4. Looking to the future

5. Next steps

2. Progress against the targets

Table 1: Progress towards Accord targets

Accord target	2003/2004	2004/2005	2005/2006	2006/2007
Dairy cattle are excluded from streams, rivers and lakes (2007 target: cattle excluded from 50% of Accord rivers)	67% (a)	72%	75%	83%
Regular race crossing points have bridges or culverts (2007 target: 50% of regular crossing points bridged or culverted)	92% (b)	93% (b)	93% (b)	97% (b)
Farm dairy effluent is appropriately treated and discharged	n/a	Average compliance level of 67% nationally	Average compliance level of 67% nationally (c)	Average compliance of 93% nationally including minor non-compliance) (d)
Nutrients are managed to minimise losses to ground and surface water (2007 target: all farms have a system in place to manage nutrient inputs and outputs)	17% (e)	19% (e)	33% (e)	97% (e, f)

(a) This includes farmers that had no Accord-type waterways.

(b) Percentage of Accord-type crossings (ie, deeper than a red band gumboot (ankle depth), wider than a stride (approx. 1 metre) and permanently flowing).

(c) The 2005/2006 average compliance excludes minor non-compliance statistics. If minor non-compliance statistics were included, the average compliance figure would be 90%.

(d) Monitoring and reporting standards vary between regions. Some regional councils did not report separate statistics for major and minor non-compliance in their regions in 2006/07. Therefore it is not possible to accurately compare annual non-compliance figures between regions. Also, the average national compliance figure for 2006/07 includes minor non-compliance statistics for some regions.

(e) These figures represent the percentage of farmers with a nutrient budget, which is an important step in the development of a nutrient management system. Data on farmers using nutrient management system is not yet available.

(f) At the time of reporting, Fonterra’s On-Farm Assessment, not yet completed for the season, showed 64 per cent of farms have nutrient budgets. The 97 per cent reported is more comprehensive data from Fert Research’s analysis of the fertiliser industry’s customer databases.

a. On-farm Assessments

Fonterra’s On-farm Environmental and Animal Welfare Assessment 2006/2007 has again provided data to measure progress against Accord targets. The 99 per cent participation rate is consistent with previous years.

Wetlands

As in 2005/2006, the On-farm Assessment did not ask farmers questions relating to stock access to wetlands as some regional councils have not yet defined and identified regionally significant wetlands. However, in the regions where councils have defined and identified regionally significant wetlands, the 2007 Accord target has been met. Regional councils are working with farmers to protect wetlands in these regions. However, only four of the 13 regional councils have defined and identified “Regionally Significant Wetlands”. Accord partners will investigate ways to identify significant wetlands by the end of the 2007/2008 season.

Regional variations

The On-farm Assessment is a useful tool to monitor improvement and review where additional regional resources and actions are required.

Differences in On-farm Assessment results occur within some regions. In Taranaki, for example, information relating to waterways (cattle exclusion and crossings) is provided directly by the Taranaki Regional Council through its farm planning programme. This programme differs to the Accord as it imposes riparian planting requirements on those farmers with riparian plans and covers a wider range of waterways.

These variations demonstrate the importance of Regional Action Plans. These plans have been developed by Fonterra and the respective regional councils to allow each region to focus on targets particularly relevant to that region and to assist with implementing the Accord.

In 2007, Fonterra and DairyNZ have implemented a number of regional programmes to assist farmers to comply with farm-dairy effluent management requirements. These include employing a Dairy Liaison Officer in Southland and the provision of one-on-one advice to non-complying farmers in Canterbury. Plans are underway to develop related programmes for the Waikato, Manawatu and Northland regions.

b. Independent auditing

Fonterra again commissioned an independent audit of On-farm Assessment results collected during the 2006/2007 season. The audit provides transparency for the On-farm Assessments, an opportunity to investigate effluent compliance, and gives farmers an opportunity to discuss environmental management options and methods individually. This year farmers in the Auckland, Waikato, and Otago regions were surveyed.

Audit findings

In the Auckland region, a high level of achievement against all of the Accord targets was noted. Ninety-two per cent of farms surveyed received a Grade 1 (full compliance) rating for their dairy effluent disposal. Six per cent of farms received a Grade 2 (minor non-compliance) rating and two per cent of farms surveyed received a Grade 3 (significant non-compliance) rating.

On the farms surveyed, dairy stock is excluded from 85 per cent of waterways and all of the Accord-defined crossings are either bridged or culverted. Ninety-eight per cent of farms surveyed had a nutrient budget, which is a significant milestone towards achieving the Accord target of all farms having systems in place to manage nutrient inputs and outputs.

In the Waikato region, recent dairy effluent compliance data was only available for 22 per cent of the farms surveyed. Of these farms, 53 per cent received a full or high compliance rating. Seventeen per cent of farms received a partial compliance rating, and 30 per cent of farms received a significant non-compliance rating. Dairy stock is excluded from 89 per cent of waterways, and on the majority of properties all crossings are either bridged or culverted. All farms surveyed had a nutrient budget.

In the Otago region, dairy effluent compliance inspections were conducted between September and November of last year. Of the 340 farms inspected during this period, 47 properties (14 per cent) were deemed to be non-compliant. Fourteen of the 47 properties were non-compliant on the grounds of effluent discharges to water and the remainder were non-compliant on the grounds of overflowing sumps and ponds, and irrigation on saturated soils. Dairy stock is excluded from 90 per cent of waterways, and on the majority of properties, all crossings are either bridged or culverted. Ninety-four per cent of farms surveyed had a nutrient budget.

The results achieved through the 2007 audit highlight the progress farmers have made towards better environmental management within recent years. However, the 2007 audit also notes that there is scope for further improvement, particularly regarding compliance with regional council rules on dairy effluent treatment and discharges.

The impression gained from the audit was that the majority of farmers are aware of their environmental responsibilities and are endeavouring to employ day-to-day best management practices. In many cases, they are achieving this but, in some areas, further work is required.

Table 2: Independent Audit results for 2006/2007 season

Region	Percentage of waterways with stock access	Percentage of farms that had completed a nutrient budget1
Auckland	15%	98%
Waikato	11%	100%
Otago	10%	94%

1. The completion of a nutrient budget is a significant first step towards achieving the Accord target of all farms having systems in place for managing nutrient inputs and outputs.

c. Compliance with regional plan and resource consent requirements

The third Accord target outlines the compliance required with resource consents and regional standards for dairy effluent discharges. The percentages quoted in this report are based on information provided by regional councils and reflect each region’s particular method of monitoring and defining significant and minor non-compliance. In some regions, not all farms are visited while in other regions, visits are decided on the previous season’s performance.

Levels of full compliance again vary with regions such as Taranaki and Tasman recording 100 per cent full compliance. Other regions, such as Northland (77 per cent), Manawatu/Wanganui (85 per cent) and Bay of Plenty (91 per cent), still show levels of overall compliance below the 100 per cent target. There was a marginal improvement in “significant non-compliance” from 2005/06. The average significant non-compliance was 10 per cent in 2005/2006 and 7 per cent in 2006/2007 across the 13 regions where Fonterra farmers operate.

Accurate reporting of compliance figures remains a challenge. This is largely due to the variations in the definition of compliance. For instance, the difference between non-compliance, minor or moderate non-compliance and significant non-compliance is not regionally consistent. Significant non-compliance is generally defined by councils as non-compliance which has or may have a negative environmental effect, whereas minor or moderate non-compliance relates to matters such as failing to show resource consent on a dairy-shed wall, or a short-term technical failure.

Levels of non-compliance are more prevalent in Manawatu/Wanganui, Northland, Canterbury, Bay of Plenty, and Southland. Factors leading to this failure included those noted in the 2005/2006 Snapshot of Progress report. For instance, insufficient contingency capacity for systems in areas with high rainfall was noted in Tasman. The insufficient use of available sanctions and lack of resources to monitor all farms were also noted. However, in some areas, more rigorous monitoring undertaken during the year identified non-compliance issues which were not recorded in earlier years.

As outlined in the 2005/2006 Snapshot, Fonterra, with funding from DairyNZ, has updated and marketed two extensive manuals: Managing Farm Dairy Effluent and Farm Management Issues, which were released in October 2006. In addition, workshops for farmers and rural professionals are being convened to promote the understanding of good dairy-shed effluent disposal practice. Fonterra notes that many farmers are seeking new and better ideas about systems to meet regulatory requirements and maintain productivity. In this way and in others, the Accord has been useful towards entrenching environmental concerns into the business decision-making of farmers.

There are clearly opportunities to improve performance. This will again be a particular focus of the Accord partners over the coming year.

The following map identifies the percentage of farms in each region who were either fully compliant with all resource consent conditions or who failed in minor ways.

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