The Perils of Effluent Discharge – Sorting out the muck in the air

Have you driven down the road and had your windscreen splattered with effluent as farmers irrigate their paddocks with nutrient-dense animal waste? Has your washing been hanging on the line all day and now has a pungent odour? Many farmers use a travelling irrigator or muck spreader on the farm, so what are your obligations to protect the general public from the effect of your permitted farming activity?

While most farmers

Latest Rural eSpeaking

Today we publish the Autumn 2012 edition of Rural eSpeaking here. We hope you find the articles of interest and that they’re also useful to you.

In this issue we have articles on:

• What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is your problem: Your things can cause headaches when they head out of bounds
• Biosecurity Law Reform Bill 2012: Bringing New Zealand’s biosecurity up to date
• Crafar Farms: What is of the most benefit to New Zealand?
• Fonterra end of season share purchase
• National Animal Identification and Trading Act 2012
• Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS): Caveat emptor

If you’d like to talk further on any topics covered in the newsletter, or indeed on any rural matter, please be in touch with us.

Latest Fonterra Farmlink

Is available here – containing:

• Trading Among Farmers
• Sharemilkers take ownership
• New life for former mines
• Effluent appraisals of every farm
• Win for three Taranaki families
• Russia free trade agreement
• Calf milk
• New farm dairy or alterations
• Dairy Training Schedule
• Dairy effluent workshop

Rain woes

The lack of rain is a cause for concern for Waikato dairy farmers and Fonterra has said that Northland is suffering from a 29% reduction in production as a result of low rainfall.