Some Canterbury farmers have been forced to pay up to $60,000 for new or renewed consents.
National vice president of Federated Farmers, Colin Hurst, says the current system is too complex, costly and uncertain.
“Farming families are stumping up thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of dollars to regain consent to keep farming, often when they’ve made no substantial changes in their land use since gaining their previous consent.”
He says Federated Farmers has heard strong, consistent messaging from many of its members nationwide, and particularly from those in Canterbury, that the resource consenting system is badly broken.
“Frustration among many farming families and businesses is at boiling point.”
After just one week, a petition calling for government intervention in the “consenting crisis” had nearly 2000 signatures.
The petition calls for the Government to roll over existing consents until the new resource management legislation is bedded in.
A recent Federated Farmers survey revealed four out of five farmers worry about gaining or renewing consents, and the average cost of a new consent has hit nearly $45,000, with renewals not far behind at $28,000.
“It’s a nightmare of bureaucratic overkill, endless paperwork and requests for additional information, and months or years of stressful delay.
“These numbers paint a damning picture of a system that’s simply not working.”
Hurst says farmers with current consents should be allowed to keep operating under them until the reforms are completed.
He adds that many of the consents being processed now may become redundant once the new Resource Management Act (RMA) framework takes effect.
“It’s a waste of everyone’s time and money,” he says. “If nothing changes, it’ll just mean more stress and confusion for farmers.”
He says the information demands from regional and district councils are so complicated that farmers are forced to hire consultants and specialists, processes which only push costs higher.
“And even after doing everything they can to provide that information, there’s still absolutely no certainty the council won’t come back asking for more information or money.”
He emphasises the need for urgency as thousands of consents are due to expire in the coming months.
“What’s really galling is that this consent chaos continues even though councils and everyone else know the Government is on the cusp of releasing completely new and streamlined resource management laws, replacing the bloated RMA.”
An RMA replacement is slated to be introduced to Parliament this year, passed into law in 2026, and in effect by 2027.
Hurst says the Government’s work to replace the RMA system with a more workable framework is great, but farmers demand certainty until the new law is in place.
“How can farming families have confidence to keep investing in their businesses if they don’t even know if they’ll be allowed to keep farming next year?”
Resource consents grant farmers the legal right to perform activities that might otherwise be restricted, thereby minimising environmental impact.
Per that Federated Farmers survey, effluent consents are the most common (24%), followed closely by farming (land use) and water take/irrigation (both 21%).
“This campaign is just getting started, but we’re going to be putting the pedal to the metal as we head down the home straight towards Christmas – because people need a solution before then.
“Let’s end the consent chaos and give farmers the certainty they deserve.”
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