Waikato farming company ANP Farms Limited has been fined $94,500 in the Hamilton District Court for unlawful discharges of dairy effluent into the environment in November 2022 and June 2023.
The company was sentenced by District Court Judge Melinda Dickey this week on three charges under the Resource Management Act as a result of a prosecution taken by Waikato Regional Council.
In November 2022, council officers conducted an inspection at a farm owned by the defendant at Puketaha, on the outskirts of Hamilton.
They found a large volume of dairy effluent ponded in a paddock and issued the defendant with an abatement notice prohibiting further unlawful discharges.
Seven months later, council officers conducted a follow-up inspection and found further large-scale ponding of effluent at the farm.
“Animal effluent can be a great fertiliser when irrigated appropriately to land. However, large volumes of deep ponded effluent can pose a real risk of contaminating groundwater,” regional compliance manager Patrick Lynch said.
“It can have the same effect on water quality as piping effluent directly into a stream.
“This region has had clear rules in place for the last 30 years prohibiting this kind of activity and it is disappointing that we still find instances of this, even after putting a farm formally on notice.”
In sentencing, Judge Dickey described “ANP’s culpability as ranging from careless at the time of the first offence to highly careless at the time of the second offence given the time that had elapsed between offences”.
The Judge said there “was ample opportunity for ANP to address its issues between November 2022 and June the following year”.
In Focus Podcast | GrowAg initiative offers funding hook-up opportunities
Senior Farmers Weekly journalist Richard Rennie is subbing in for Bryan Gibson.
He caught up with Harriet Mellish, the GM for Australia’s AgriFutures GrowAG initiative. It provides a platform for researchers, startups and innovators here to identify and meet up with potential partners through an comprehensive online digital platform. Harriet made a brief visit here this week to address the E Tipu food and fibre conference in Palmerston North this week. She talks about how the initiative has managed to support over $160 million in startup investments, and the opportunities it offers for Kiwis to tap into Australian opportunities.
