A feud between the Southland branches of Federated Farmers and Fish and Game has reached a breaking point.
The two groups once worked in harmony but now Southland Federated Farmers has called for a boycott and encouraged people to buy this year’s duck shooting licences in other regions.
The region’s Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick told 1News: “It’s built up over time with our issues with Fish & Game, with their constant pushback in anti-farm and rhetoric towards farmers in Southland.”
“The last straw obviously was the decision on Rule 24,” he said.
That rule was a longstanding regional council proposal in the Southland Water and Land Plan, which controls the way farm waste — such as animal urine — could be discharged.
The document has been in deliberations in some form for nearly a decade.
It has been back and forth in the Environment Court, where Fish & Game was involved, to advocate for the health of the local waterways.
The court decision resulted in a ruling that would likely require nearly 3000 Southland farmers to obtain a resource consent just to farm lawfully.
Herrick said that was the last straw for the local Federated Farmers.
“We’d like them to stick to their lane, stick to what they know best, which is trout and ducks and stop meddling in amongst all of the political narrative that they keep meddling in.”
Environment Southland now wanted changes to the Resource Management Act under section 70 because the ruling would be too cumbersome.
Chairperson Nicol Horrell told 1News: “When this decision came out… we basically went straight to Government and said, ‘look, if there’s no changes, all our farmers have got to have resource consents in a very short time frame’.
“It’s costly, it’s impractical, and we’ll actually lose the community that we’re taking on a journey through ‘farm plans’ to do the right thing.”
An amendment bill for the RMA is working through Parliament, while further Environment Court hearings regarding the Southland case have been put on hold.
In the meantime, some farmers are making their anger known.
They have protested with orange tags on fences against Fish & Game river access through farmland and have asked people to buy duck shooting licences in other regions.
Southland Fish & Game said in a statement: “We understand the frustration with last year’s court case, which, because of the extent of degradation in our rivers, meant it seemed likely most Southland farmers would need a resource consent.
“This could have been their farm plan but, irrespective, the government has committed to changing a section of the RMA, which was the catalyst for the Southland situation.”
Fish & Game said its staff worked with farmers every day, supporting and advising on “the excellent work many are doing, such as creating wetlands to improved water quality and provide habitat benefits”.
“Around half of our council are farmers, so we have a strong rural focus in what our staff do and value working constructively with farmers.”
The issue has now reached Government-level.
Hunting and Fishing Minister James Meager told 1News he met with both parties on Friday.
“I would just like both parties to de-escalate to get around the table and to sort out their issues,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s worth anyone’s time dragging ministers into this, so i’d be hoping that both Feds and Fish & Game can just sort out any issues that they may have and get on with making it easier for New Zealanders to go hunting and fishing.”
The minister has called for calm while the issue is resolved.
