Marlborough’s 54 dairy farms are inspected every year by the Marlborough District Council compliance team, and they usually get less than 24 hours’ warning.
But while the team got top marks for inspections in Forest & Bird’s report on dairy farms released last week, non-compliant farms rarely had follow-up inspections, and they were rarely fined or taken to court.
A Marlborough District Council compliance officer checks out a waterway at a dairy farm at Tuamarina, north of Blenheim.
Five dairy farms near Rai Valley were seriously non-compliant in the 2016-17 year, but only one farm received an infringement notice.
The farm, in Ronga, north of Rai Valley, west of Picton, was using a travelling irrigator too close to a waterway.
The other four farms, one in Ronga and three in Opouri, east of Rai Valley, were not storing cow effluence from wash-down yards correctly. Storage ponds and concrete sumps were not allowed to be within 20 metres of a waterway.
Those farms had also been seriously non-compliant in the two years prior, but none were fined or taken to court, the report said.
«This could be why there was a high rate of serious non-compliance in the region,» Forest & Bird’s report said.
«To avoid repeat offending, the council should ensure that all cases of serious non-compliance receive an enforcement action.»
The council was given a ‘C’ grade for dairy farm monitoring. The region had few farms compared to several other regions, but the second highest rate of serious non-compliance in the country at 9.6 per cent.
But compliance manager Gina Ferguson said she disagreed with the ‘C’ grade.
«I don’t consider the grade fairly represents this council’s monitoring, compliance and enforcement activities for dairy farms in Marlborough. Data needs context and it can be unintentionally misrepresented when the bigger picture is not included.»
Ferguson said the National Dairy Effluent Compliance Audit would have rated four of the farms non-compliant instead of seriously non-compliant, as there were no actual environmental effects caused.
The team often used methods other than site visits to follow up with significantly non-compliant farms, Ferguson said.
«Officers do undertake follow-up visits where physical attendance and inspection is necessary to reassess compliance and any adverse effects.»
Two of the farmers with a storage pond near a waterway told compliance staff they were working on new storage systems.
Another farmer told staff the farm was being sold to a neighbour, and the pond would then be decommissioned.
A fourth farmer had since got a resource consent granted for its concrete sump near a waterway.
Ferguson said the council considered adverse effects, culpability, co-operation and the level of deterrence required when considering how to respond to offending.
«To ensure compliance, we undertake engagement, education, enabling and enforcement,» she said.
«The four farms had no observed adverse effects and were taking proactive steps towards achieving compliance.»
The council also considered the level of risk to the environment to determine how much to monitor and intervene, for example a farm with 500 cows would pose a different level of risk to a farm with 100 cows, she said.
«This needs to be a region-specific assessment based on the primary activities and environmental issues of the region.»
The council had allocated funding to hire three new compliance officers over the next three years, and was already advertising.
There were more than 35,000 resource consents to monitor in Marlborough, and the team investigated more than 500 complaints a year. In the 2016-17 year, there were six prosecutions, 32 abatement notices and 31 infringement notices.
RESPONSIBLE DAIRY FARMING
Spread the effluent from 100 cows evenly over at least 3 hectares a year.
Maintain a 20-metre buffer between the effluent disposal area and any waterway.
Avoid spreading effluent during heavy rain.
Check effluent pond to ensure no leaks or overflows, and pond is free from excessive weeds or crusting.
Have a back-up system to be used in the event of mechanical failure or heavy rain, for example a pond or second pump.
Have systems, including pumps, fully serviced pre-season.
Check sumps and stone traps and remove solids regularly.
Train staff in effluent management.
Divert stormwater from cow shed roof away from dairy effluent system.
Move stationary irrigators before each milking.
Check travelling irrigators daily.
Move travelling irrigator’s anchor before the run is finished.
Set travelling irrigators on fastest speed.
By: The Marlborough Express
Source: Stuff
Link: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/106254871/dirty-dairy-report-compliance-team-scores-c-for-see-you-next-year
