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A change in government policy was all it took for winter grazing to become much easier for the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation.
Strict new essential freshwater regulations around pugging and resowing dates, had Andrew Beijeman, CEO of Ātihau- Whangaui Incorporation, wondering just how farm managers were going to keep their animals fed without breaking any rules.
But a change in permitted pugging levels and Andrew’s outlook was more optimistic.
“We were always going to be able to manage the intensive winter grazing rules governing total area, slope and buffer zones, but the pugging rule, in particular, was going to be much harder to comply with,” he said.
“A few days of rain and there isn’t much you can do about pugging on our soils except to remove the animals, which defeats the purpose of winter cropping in the first place.”
The change means that the incorporation’s farms are now well set up to handle the freshwater regulations and can also manage the 5-metre setbacks from a waterway to comply with the new rules.
“They shouldn’t have a material impact on the business beyond limiting where we can put crops and doing more intensive environmental planning,” he said.
However, he was less optimistic about the requirement to reduce methane emissions by 10 percent by 2030, then up to a further 47 percent by 2050.
“The only realistic way to achieve it at the moment is by dropping the number of animals we carry, which means a drop in production,” he said.
“We would need a scientific solution, new technology or innovation, which isn’t currently available on a commercial scale, for that not to happen.”
“But like everything, the new rules will create new opportunities and will free up areas for land-use change.”
“That could be planting trees on less productive land, or potentially running less stock and getting more out of them or growing more vegetables on the land around Ohakune.”
The Incorporation management team are in the process of completing a year-long project to reassess farm development plans and land use options, putting them in a strong position to respond to legislative changes.
Alternative land use options such as carbon farming or expanding current mānuka honey operations are profitable alternatives to sheep and beef farming on steeper country.
