Farming issues: Drought, Covid-19 & latest on WRC Plan Change 2: Taupo Overseer

Council was however concerned that notification at present would not be prudent, while people are dealing with the COVID-19 lockdown.

Council therefore directed staff to request a delay in Gazettal for Plan Change 2 of up to four weeks. Gazettal is when the Streamlined Planning Process for the plan change can begin. It means that notification of the plan change would also be delayed four weeks. This would give people time to adjust to the new circumstances before needing to respond to notification.  

Staff have written to the Minister to request this delay. We haven’t yet received a formal response, but we have spoken to Ministry staff and they seem to support the request. If all goes according to plan, we think Gazettal will occur on or soon after 24th April, and notification of the plan change should then occur early in May.  

We haven’t yet had advice from the Lake Taupō Protection Trust about how this may affect their processes for changing the nitrogen contracts.     (Update from WRC Principal Advisor Urlwyn Trebilco sent to TLC’s Jocelyn Reeve)

Drought and the COVID-19 lockdown are adding further complexity to sheep and beef farm systems. Beef and lamb have a podcast with practical steps farmers can take to protect next season’s production:

https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/podcasts-tight-times

LWAG March 2020