Otago Regional Council annual winter flyovers are set to begin at the end of this week for the next two weeks, with a focus on coastal Otago and some Central Otago properties.

The flyovers will be looking at farming practices like intensive winter grazing, but also large land disturbances around forestry and any machinery working in or around streams, rivers and wetlands, says ORC’s Manager Compliance, Tami Sargeant.

“The ORC undertakes compliance flights every year to gain a bird’s eye view on land use in districts around the region to identify any potential risks to water quality”,”

Mrs Sargeant says following the flyovers, staff will assess the information and undertake site visits on any potential high-risk sites to ‘ground truth’ and check compliance.

She acknowledges that the Government has signalled pending changes around consenting and encourages Otago farmers to continue with their best management practices under their current consents, as the Government changes will not come into effect until winter next year.

“We know farmers are well set for this winter and grazing is underway. Please keep your consents; they’ll give you all certainty during this time and still apply to this winter,” she says.

She says ORC is already working with primary industry groups, stakeholders and the Ministry for the Environment, and once we know more about the changes ourselves, we’ll be able to update farmers.

Maintain a grazing management plan and sediment controls

Mrs Sargeant wants farmers who do not have a consent to continue to strive to meet the permitted criteria for the regulations and have a grazing management plan in place which will support good on-farm decisions around grazing.

“ORC’s compliance programme will continue for this winter, with a continued focus on education and assessments of any on-farm risks to the environment,” she says.

“We’re expecting farmers, forestry contractors and earth moving contractors, to have plans drawn up for managing sediment which is likely to be mobilised and sediment controls in place to keep sediment from getting into Otago waterways,” she says.

Anyone who sees pollution of a waterway is encouraged to call the ORC’s 24/7 pollution hotline on 0800 800 033, or email pollution@orc.govt.nz..

Working closely with farmer organisations

Mrs Sargeant says staff are working closely with Dairy NZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, Deer NZ, Fonterra and Federated Farmers to support farmers.

“We want to ensure farmers have the information and advice they need to manage their farm with minimal risk to the environment,” she says.

There have been just over 1000 dairy farm compliance visits during the past three years, with positive changes to the levels of Compliance.

The dairy farm compliance inspections are primarily around effluent management - storage and discharge – with ORC also monitoring compliance with rules for landfills, silage, offal pits and permitted water takes.

For the 10-months to the end of April, dairy inspections were up 28.7%, from 317 a year ago to 408.

Full compliance with rules rose from 61% of the total a year ago to 66%, while those in the grade of “significant non-compliance” fell, from 3% to 2% for the year, Ms Sargeant says.

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