North Canterbury News: December 10, 2020

Why do planners upset farmers?
By ROBYN BRISTOW
Intergenerational farmers are rural
survivors, but they do not haveabig voice
in environmentalmanagement,
according to Lynda Murchison.
They farm in accordancewith what
theirgrandfathers did. Theydon’t
embrace much of the new technology
available to farmers, but theirland is in
good heart, she says.
‘‘They must be doingsomething right.’’
Ms Murchison has been awardedaPhD
for her thesisthat explores the conflicts
between long­time farmers and
environmentalplanning processes.
It has been recommended for
publication in eight journals.
She says if everyplanner, government
minister and scientist stopped to listen to
farmers, ‘‘wewould not havehalf the
environmentalissues we have’’.
‘‘These peopleknow how to farm and
they care about the impact of farming on
the land. Theyhave adjusted and evolved
theirfarming practicestotake careofthe
land.
‘‘It is such apiece of goldsitting there,
beingignored.’’
She said she did not start out to to write
aplanning thesis.‘‘It started as astory
about farmers and how they knew their
land. But it ended up aplanning thesis
because Ihad been aplanner for 25
years.’’
Ms Murchison farms in partnership
withher husband, JockMurchison, in the
WekaPass in North Canterbury. She has
worked in resource management for
around 25 yearsinCanterbury, in roles
withdistrictand regional councils,
including the Selwyn council and
Environment Canterbury.
Morerecently, she has worked with the
iwi authority,TeRunanga ONgai Tahu.
She runs an environmental planning
consultancy business and lectures parttime
in resource and environmental
management at the University of
Canterbury. She is aHurunuidistrict
councillor and the immediate past
presidentofNorth Canterbury
Federated Farmers.
Ms Murchison said she couldnever
understandwhy farmersgot so uptight
about some of the work planners did.
‘‘I wanted to try to find out what it was
we do as planners that grinds their gears
so much and why theyneverlistened,’’
she says.
She also wantedtounderstand why
planners continued mapping wetlands
and SignificantNatural Areas across
Canterbury when farmershad shown
theywere preparedtovoluntarily
establish covenants on theirfarms
throughthe QEII Trust to protect areas.
Ms Murchison talked to 52 farming
families in Canterbury and read the
farming life stories of another 30 for her
thesis.
Farmers talked about the conflict over
Lynda Murchison ... ‘‘I wanted to try to find out what it was we do as planners that grinds
their gears so much and why they never listened.’’
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
planning processessuch as mapping of
Significant Natural Areas, and the
freshwater debate.
‘‘We look to sciencetofind solutions
sometimes for problems,and ignore the
knowledge of people who have livedwith
the land for generations.’’
Ms Murchison believes like­minded
people,such as those wanting to protect
the land and waterways, including
planners and farmers, shouldwork
together to protect the land,its
biodiversity, and freshwater.
She is supporting this approach in the
Hurunuidistrict, where environmental
issues are ‘‘quitemanageable’’.
‘‘We haveahuge number of family
farms in the Hurunui, and long­time
2339217
residents who have invested in the
district. We can run apilot in the
Hurunui by putting like­minded people
together and draw up arecipe for how we
mightdothingsdifferently, with afocus
on success on the ground, rather than the
rightwords on awee bit of paper,’’she
says.
Too often, people who were locked in a
process complicated that process, and
sometimes planners madealot of
assumptions, someofwhich were not
valid.
Her thesis is titled, Conflict Between
Intergenerational FamilyFarmers and
Environmental Planning Processes: An
‘‘Economic versus Environment’’
Proposition of DifferentWays of Knowing?
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NEWS
North Canterbury News, December 10, 2020
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