Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) recently hosted a webinar on the implications of an independent review of the suspended fine sediment and E.coli national bottom lines and the impacts on sheep and beef farmers. The webinar drew around 120 participants, including officials, scientists, regional councils and farmers.
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The webinar featured Dr Michael Greer, Principal Scientist at Torlesse Environmental and author of the independent review, and B+LNZ’s Senior Environment Policy Manager, Dr Paul le Miere.
Watch the recording and read more about the review and B+LNZ’s next steps below.
Key findings from the independent review
Dr Michael Greer, Principal Scientist at Torlesse Environmental, shared insights from the review, which focused on suspended fine sediment and E. coli, where the most significant issues were identified.
The review raised significant concerns about the achievability and scientific basis of the suspended fine sediment and 95th percentile national bottom lines (NBL) set by the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM). It found that even if agriculture is stopped and all catchments returned to their natural state, up to 38 percent of rivers would still fail to meet the suspended fine sediment NBL.
Using models employed by the Government and regional councils to meet the current rules, it found that around 44 percent of sheep and beef farmland would likely need to be retired to meet these targets. Even with these measures, up to 50 percent of rivers would still not meet the suspended fine sediment NBL.
B+LNZ is recommending the suspended fine sediment attribute and 95th percentile E. coli states are removed as an interim measure, while urgent work is done to develop a more appropriate national framework.
B+LNZ commissioned this review in response to concerns from farmers about the achievability of some of the targets in the water plans being notified by regional councils.
The report’s findings underscore the need for a reassessment of these targets to ensure they are both scientifically sound and practically achievable.
The full findings are available on B+LNZ’s website here.
The significant cost to farmers
B+LNZ calculated the cost of the identified mitigations for sheep and beef farmers. During the webinar, Paul le Miere stepped through B+LNZ’s estimation that retiring 44 percent of sheep and beef farmland would cost around $3.9 billion per year. “On top of this, tens of thousands of rural jobs will be lost, especially if this land is converted to carbon farming,” he pointed out.
B+LNZ’s work and next steps
B+LNZ is calling for urgent changes to the suspended fine sediment and 95Th percentile E. coli attributes national bottom lines.
Following the review, B+LNZ has met with Ministers and officials to discuss the findings and will continue to push for a circuit-breaker to address the issues identified.
B+LNZ is also reaching out to regional councils, urging them to pause their water planning processes until there is greater certainty about any changes to the NPS-FM targets.
“We recognise that regional councils are compelled by law to implement the national rules, and are in a difficult position until there is certainty about changes. However, we are concerned that it will be difficult to reverse any progress towards locking in these flawed targets,” said le Miere.
B+LNZ is also working on providing farmers and the wider public in those regions with information on what the potential implications could be in their area.
“We want to ensure that everyone affected understands the stakes,” he said.
B+LNZ has supplied an opinion editorial to the Stuff media network to explain to the wider public why we’re raising these concerns, and to emphasise how important freshwater health is to farmers.
The review’s findings have been well-received, largely due to the independence and scientific rigour behind the peer-reviewed report.
B+LNZ will continue to advocate for policies that balance environmental health with the practical realities faced by farmers, ensuring that freshwater management in New Zealand is both effective and fair.
Find out more
For more information, including links to the full report and a summary, visit B+LNZ’s website here.