Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) said Horizon’s release of the One Plan is big news for Horizons’ growers.
Chief executive Peter Silcock said the hearing commissioners have taken the red pen to the Proposed One Plan and it is a very different document from when it started life.
HortNZ’s newsletter said the decision has been important in that other regional councils around the country have been watching and are waiting to see how the process unfolds.
“No doubt with a view to operating similar plans in their own regions,” Mr Silcock said.
HortNZ is pleased all the hard work from growers, products groups and its own staff had paid off, because the One Plan reflected many of the comments and input growers and staff made.
The key point for growers was that they would not require land use consent to continue to grow in the Horizons region, he said.
Consents were proposed to be required to manage nitrogen leaching and were based around the use of Land Use Capability and leaching rate standards.
But HortNZ said the Commissioners accepted the evidence presented by it, that the consent requirements for growers with multiple properties and changing lease and land uses made the regime complex and costly for growers, some of whom would have required separate consents for individual paddocks.
It was also acknowledged that the industry had a third-party-assured certification programme, New Zealand GAP (Good Agricultural Practice), and so was taking active steps to address issues of concern.
Growers will still be required to meet the conditions of other rules, including for:
- Cultivation adjacent to waterbodies.
- Fertiliser applications.
- Agrichemical use.
- Water takes.
Horizons chairman Garrick Murfitt said it was confident the growers were working under best practice models, so that they could be excluded from many regulations associated with intensive land use.
source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/rural/4079358/Good-work-pays-off
