COVID-19 wintering info

DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, Environment Southland and Landpro, with support from Beef+Lamb NZ, have worked together to establish a solution for Southland farmers who may need a new consent or variation to their existing consent this winter, due to added complexity under COVID-19.

To alleviate the need for farmers to apply for a land use consent a simpler, short-term solution has been developed.

Under this simpler process, consents staff will be able to issue a ‘Deemed Permitted Activity’. This essentially ensures that a farms change in circumstances is temporary and will have minimal impacts on the environment.

This avenue is available to people if, as a result of these unprecedented circumstances, they can no longer meet the permitted activity requirements, or their activities result in a minor temporary breach of the rules.

This process is designed to be relatively simple and straight forward to help farmers who will be carrying extra stock or require extra area for grazing this winter.

Some of the ways you may find yourself unable to meet the permitted activity rules include;

• Not having a Farm Environmental Management Plan in place
• Having mob sizes of bigger than 120 cattle or 250 deer
• Temporary increase in the total number of stock being carried

If this is you, complete the online questionnaire below, or give us a call on 0800 76 88 45 to discuss your specific situation.

Please note:

• Should a notice be required, there is a fixed fee of $297, which is invoiced on completion of the assessment.
• If you have more than one farm that is affected, please fill out a separate questionnaire for each farm individually.