Fencing subsidy available for Tararua farmers

Horizons Regional Council is making it easier for dairy farmers in the Tararua District to keep stock out of waterways.

Dairy farmers in the District with land bordering any stream have until November 30 this year to register their interest for a 50% subsidy from Horizons for fencing or planting costs.

Biodiversity and water quality manager Alistair Beveridge says the grant opportunity was initially presented to landowners in the Tararua’s small Mangaroa Catchment, a critical area in terms of erosion, and it has been embraced by the whole group of farmers. “The commitment to this project by the farmers in the Mangaroa Catchment has been fantastic.”

The 50% subsidy is available to individual dairy farmers but if neighbours band together as a group of four or more landowners in a small sub-catchment they could be eligible for up to 75% off the costs.

This is the first time Horizons has offered a subsidy higher than its usual 30% to a whole district, in order to assist farmers in meeting their Dairying and Clean Stream Accord obligations.

Mangaroa Catchment dairy farmer Jim Galloway, in his fifth season on an 82 hectare farm which backs onto the Mangatainoka River and has the Mangaroa Stream running through it, says that the ultimate benefit of retiring streams is the positive effect on the water but that there are other advantages too.

“The main benefits come from the water quality point of view – it’s about trying to do your part – but we really like the bird life that comes with plantings, the trees make for good bird fodder,” he says.

“In the recent floods some of our new plantings were swept away, but the existing ones would definitely have helped in slowing down the water and locking up the gravel. If we get to the point of controlling all our streambanks then the waterways won’t take any more of our land and we’ll be achieving quite a bit.”

Tararua dairy farmers who register their interest for the special deal before 30 November 2010 have until the end of the financial year to complete the works.

Registrations of interest can be made by free phoning Horizons on 0508 800 800 and more information can be found at www.horizons.govt.nz.

ENDS

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