A Waikato farming company, company director and farm manager have been hit with a combined $305,900 in fines after unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into the environment.
A statement from Waikato Regional Council announced the convictions for Flint Farms Limited, farm owner Barry Flint and farm manager Gavin Flint.
They were sentenced in Hamilton District Court this week on 14 charges under the Resource Management Act, over offences between August 2022 and June 2023.
“This is the largest fine for discharging contaminants into the environment in the Waikato region since the Resource Management Act was introduced over 30 years ago,” the council said.
And Flint Farms Limited was ordered to upgrade the farm effluent system and implement an effluent management plan “to avoid further adverse effects”.
The case began in August 2022, the council said.
“Council officers conducted an inspection at the dairy farm owned by the defendant at Ngātea, on the Hauraki Plains, south of Thames.
“They found numerous breaches of environmental regulation, related to the discharge of dairy effluent from two effluent ponds, a sump and a stock underpass.
“Two abatement notices were issued to the defendants by the council to prevent further discharges into the environment.
“However, during follow up inspections over the next 10 months, additional breaches were identified.”
Sentence a ‘wake-up call’
Patrick Lynch, Waikato regional compliance manager, said: “It’s 2024. There simply can be no tolerance for not having adequate infrastructure on farm to manage animal effluent.
“This fine should be a sharp wake-up call for those farming operations who still have shoddy systems, or are not managing effluent systems properly.
“It is very concerning that we still find contamination like this, even after putting a farm formally on notice.
“To need a court order to ensure appropriate infrastructure is installed, that should have been in place decades ago, is incredibly disappointing.”