North Canterbury News: September 24, 2020

RURAL LIFE
32 North Canterbury News, September 24, 2020
Cash needed to avert crisis
Ruralleaderssay more funding is needed
to supportmental wellbeing, before it
reaches crisis point.
NorthCanterbury Rural Support Trust
chairwoman Gayle Litchfield and Rural
WomenNew Zealand national president
FionaGower say morefundingisneeded
for frontlineinitiatives to reduce rural
suicide rates.
The pair were speakinginresponse to
the Zero Suicide Aotearoa report
commissionedfor Parliament’s crosspartyMental
Healthand Addiction
Wellbeing Group.
‘‘It tells us what we already know,that
suicide in rural New Zealand is an issue.
It’s an appalling situation that needs
fixing,’’ Mrs Gower says.
‘‘It’s great to see some thoughtand
commitment giventosolutions for rural
New Zealand. They havemerit,and
RuralWomen New Zealand wouldlike to
see every part and level of the community
included.
‘‘We would like to see thatcommitment
materialise in fundingand resources.
The solutionsneed to be properly
resourced and funded.’’
Whilemuch of the focushas been on
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youth and men in rural communities as
being the most at­riskgroups, Mrs Gower
says rural women are equallyatrisk of
becoming isolated, especially in times of
adversity and low payouts.
‘‘They talkabout the poor farmer who
worriesabout the farm and theiranimals,
butthe women also worry about the farm,
theanimals, the kids, the booksand the
community.
‘‘Womenare the glue whichholds
communities together. The common
worry is ‘ifsomething happens to me, who
will pickupthe pieces’. They are holding
everything together.’’
Education around self­awareness of
wellbeing is agood place to start,Mrs
Litchfield says.
‘‘Through education,wecan make sure
employers are more aware of their
employees’wellbeing and in turn their
ownwellbeing.
‘‘We need to normalise ‘baddays’, that
it’s OK to have ‘bad days’ and thatfeeling
stress andfatigue are normal andthat the
sundefinitely comes out the next day.’’
Relationship building between farm
owners and their employees is another
wayofbreaking down isolation.
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2309605
Not amused ... Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Cameron Henderson
is not impressed with the government’s freshwater consultation.
PHOTO: FILE
Freshwater rules
continue to irk
By DAVID HILL
A‘‘lack of goodconsultation’’has led to
‘‘badfreshwater regulation’’, Cam
Hendersonsays.
The Federated Farmers North
Canterbury presidentsays theinitial
six­weekconsultation period, during
one of the busiest times on the farming
calendar, was not good.
The governmentextendedthe
consultation periodtoeight weeks and
received more than 17,000 submissions.
‘‘To be fair to the government, there
were some changes made in theface of
that avalancheofopposition,’’ Mr
Hendersonsays.
‘‘Butwarnings at that time, and many
timessince, from Federated Farmers
and othersthat some of the proposals
wouldnot only be extremely expensive
but also unworkable in apractical sense,
were ignored.’’
Agriculture Minister Damien
O’Connordisputedthis,saying extensive
consultation was done with farming
leaders ‘‘over aperiod of many months
both before and after the public
consultation’’.
‘‘There were thousands of
submissions received as partoflast
year’s consultations. The Government
listenedand as aresult many changes
were made to the original plan.’’
Changes included alongertimeline to
implement changes, anational bottom
line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen not
to be implementedatthis stage, and
existing permanentfencesare not
required to be moved viaregulation, Mr
O’Connor says.
But Mr Hendersonsays the changes
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do not go far enough, as the October and
November deadlines for re­sowing
winter cropped paddocks tookno
account of weather conditions,are
‘‘unrealistic and are more likelyto
reduce water qualitythan improve it’’.
Low slope mapsprepared for the new
stockexclusionrules are equally
confusing as consultation documents
identified 3.8 millionhectares as low
slopepastoralland, whereas the final
regulations identified aroundsix
million hectares, includinghill and high
country land, he says.
Mr O’Connorsays he is meetingwith
farmers around the country and,while
the policy is good, the implementation
may need to be adjusted for each region.
‘‘Implementation comes downtothe
sensibleapplication of necessary
regulations. It became apparentthat
some of the regulations withinthe
freshwater standards,including ones
around winter grazing, needed to be
adjusted, so we did that.’’
Meetingsare ongoing with Ministry
for the Environmentand Primary
Industries officials to work on making
the mappingdata more accurate, Mr
O’Connor says.
‘‘Theintentisvery clear —tocleanup
our waterways. Where the regulations
are impractical or unclear, we will
continuetomake adjustments.
‘‘It is achange in practice for some
farmers but we’llmake sure that it
achieves the outcomes that the vast
majorityoffarmers say they want, which
is better waterquality,betteranimal
welfare standards,and makingsure that
we can sell good quality producttothe
world.’’
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