Only half of the dairy farmers who had to report synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use by the end of a July deadline have complied, with no real consequence for non-compliance, says councils.
New rules in the National Environmental Standard for Freshwater came into effect from the end of July last year and required dairy farmers on an area larger than 20ha to report their synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use for the previous year.
The rules also limited the amount of synthetic nitrogen to 190kg per hectare, per year, averaged across grazed land.
Any excess required a consent.
Waikato had about 3918 dairy farms, Billington said.
Exceeding the nitrogen cap (N-cap) limit and not submitting a nitrogen use report was a breach of the regulations 36. and triggered a breach of the Resource Management Act, he said.
Billington said their compliance strategy was to educate and encourage farmers, including industry organisations such as DairyNZ, Balance and Ravensdown, to submit reports.
These organisation could help farmers who exceeded the nitrogen cap ton find a way to reduce use, he said.
Formal enforcement of non-compliance as still some way off, he said.
“ Unless there was a serious breach identified in terms of the amount of N used, for which we may have to look at a range of enforcement tools to address,” Billington said.
“Most Waikato dairy farms are starting calving mid-July, with peak demands on their time over that month, we anticipate further reports being submitted in the next month as time allows, however, this is not likely to be significant based on the response so far,” Billington said.
Waikato had 20 farms, or 1.6% of farms, that exceeded the cap, he said.
Regulatory data manager at Otago Regional Council Simon Wilson said as of Monday the reporting rate for farmers in Otago was just over 70%.
The reporting rate last year was 54%, Wilson said.
Last year 2% who reported were over the cap, this year that number was down to 0.6%, he said.
a breach of the Resource Management Act, he said.
Billington said their compliance strategy was to educate and encourage farmers, including industry organisations such as DairyNZ, Balance and Ravensdown, to submit reports.
These organisation could help farmers who exceeded the nitrogen cap ton find a way to reduce use, he said.
TOM LEE/STUFF
Bert Quin talks about the new fertiliser spreading system he has created.
Formal enforcement of non-compliance as still some way off, he said.
“ Unless there was a serious breach identified in terms of the amount of N used, for which we may have to look at a range of enforcement tools to address,” Billington said.
“Most Waikato dairy farms are starting calving mid-July, with peak demands on their time over that month, we anticipate further reports being submitted in the next month as time allows, however, this is not likely to be significant based on the response so far,” Billington said.
Waikato had 20 farms, or 1.6% of farms, that exceeded the cap, he said.
Regulatory data manager at Otago Regional Council Simon Wilson said as of Monday the reporting rate for farmers in Otago was just over 70%.
The reporting rate last year was 54%, Wilson said.
Last year 2% who reported were over the cap, this year that number was down to 0.6%, he said.
IAIN MCGREGOR/STUFF
Biodiversity. Farm fertiliser in Waikato.
Resource management manager at Environment Southland Donna Ferguson said as of August 7 77% of Southland dairy farmers submitted data.
Last year farmers had until 31 October to submit, with 81% compliance, she said.
Those who did not submit their data on time may be considered for enforcement action, but the council preferred to educate farmers, she said.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Andrew Livingstone said 722 Canterbury dairy farms submitted, compared to 613 last year.
Reports were still coming in, he said.
Project director at Te Uru Kahika, the combined regional and unitary councils, Christina Robb said by the July 31 deadline 4790 dairy farmers supplied information into the database for the year ended June 30.
There were 9848 dairy farms, so about 50% reported on time, Robb said.
It took until December last year to get reporting from 4395 farms, with reports coming in until December last year, she said.
Reports were still coming for this year, she said.
Last year only 40% of farmers reported their use.
Councils had to fully analyse the data, with a formal report by the end of August, Robb said.
Fertiliser Association chief executive Vera Power said there were significant changes in nitrogen use over the last few years.
The association had not analysed July data yet but Power said data by the end of May showed fertiliser use was down.
“In the last three years we have seen a drop in total nitrogen fertiliser use of over 22%, following peak use in the 2019/20 fertiliser year,” Power said.
Power said the effect of a nitrogen cap was different for every part of the country.
Analysis using the nutrient budgeting tool Overseer, suggested over the past 10 years in Canterbury, the shift to best practice meant nitrogen loss decreased by a third, she said.
SUPPLIED
Ballance sales general manager Jason Minkhorst says farmers used less fertiliser than usual because of the increased cost to farm and regulations.
“In Canterbury, farms were already operating within some of the strictest limits in the country. As a result, Environment Canterbury has commented that improvements are starting to be seen in some rivers, but they acknowledge that improvements in groundwater will take longer.”
Ballance sales general manager Jason Minkhorst said there were a number of reasons farmers used less fertiliser than usual.
This included increased operating costs, higher interest rates, and the impact of regulatory uncertainty. A reduction in milk price and drop in the meat schedule also contributed to less money in their pockets.
“These factors resulted in slower fertiliser sales than normal,” he said.
Good rains meant there was ample pasture growth and farmers used less fertiliser as a result, Minkhorst said.
