Opponents to the Upper Waitaki Resource Consents hearing will be giving evidence on Wednesday 9 December 2009 at the Christchurch Town Hall, starting at 9.30 am.
The Mackenzie Guardians is a group formed recently to oppose 110 applications to take, use and discharge up to 90 million cubic metres of water a year from our high country rivers, streams and lakes in the Mackenzie Basin, South Canterbury.
Many of the public do not know that there are plans to irrigate more than 27,000 hectares of the Mackenzie Basin, a natural dry land landscape which has been part of NZ’s main tourist route for decades. It’s a well-loved ‘natural desert’ that is surprisingly biologically rich.
New Zealand’s first ‘battery cow farms’ are also being proposed for this area, with 17,000 cows housed 24 hours a day in “cubicle stables” for 8 months of the year (March to October).
During the summer months the cows will also be locked up for 12 hours a day. These ‘battery farms’ are planned for natural moraine and glacial outwash land near Lake Ohau, next to a conservation reserve and QE II covenanted area of tussock.
These big dairy farmers have discharge violations in Southland and right now other scandals such as the the video on youtube showing calves starving to death does not do much to inspire confidence in our clean green image.
Submissions relating to the current Upper Waitaki applications for resource consents can be viewed on the Environment Canterbury website
Huge central pivot irrigators over half a kilometre long are already turning the Mackenzie Country tussock landscape into unnatural swathes of green on the main tourist route in the Mackenzie Basin between Twizel and Omarama.
At stake is a storehouse of unique and endangered plants and wild life, and our film and tourist industries. “Our children will inherit the weeds and dried up rivers whose birds have all gone. Let us learn from the mistakes that have been made elsewhere in the world and protect the Mackenzie Country,” says artist Jane Zusters.
In addition to the Upper Pataki applications, new consents have been applied for to discharge 1.7 million litres a day of liquid effluent from 16 new factory dairy farms via proposed irrigation systems. These consent applications were notified in The Press on 21 November 2009 and submissions to Environment Canterbury close on December 18.
The applications also cover the construction of three huge ponds capable of storing 76,000 cubic metres of cow pooh before it is spray irrigated, and the right to discharge contaminants to the air from the enclosed animals.
(Notified applications and map of Mackenzie area attached).
The Mackenzie Guardians Society has engaged Wellington lawyer, Mathew McLelland for the hearing in Christchurch on Wednesday. Expert witnesses will be called to present evidence. Artist Jane Zusters will start the proceedings with a short film showing the affected sites. The film was made with the generosity of people in the film industry who love the Mackenzie Country.
Prominent actor Sam Neill and artist Grahame Sydney have provided written statements in support of the Mackenzie Guardians.
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Updated at 10:17pm on 9 December 2009
Opponents of a plan for intensive dairy farming in the MacKenzie Basin have told a consent hearing the irrigation would irreparably destroy the landscape.
Three companies are applying to establish 16 new farms in the upper Waitaki area, with plans to house nearly 18,000 cows in cubicle stables part of the year.
The MacKenzie Guardians environmental group has told a panel of commissioners that the applications are an inappropriate use of an outstanding natural landscape.
Lawyer Phernne Tancock said the proposal would have a significant effect on the ecology and destroy the landscape which was a drawcard for tourists and film companies.
The hearings began two months ago and will continue next year.
One of the companies, Five Rivers Limited, whose director is Kees Zeestraten, wants to establish seven dairy farms with up to 7000 cows at Ohau Downs near Omarama.
Another dairy company owned by Mr Zeestraten, Union Station Dairies in Southland, was this year fined $25,000 for breaching discharge consents.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says granting the Five Rivers consent applications would be madness, given Mr Zeestraten’s history.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand
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The Director and sole Shareholder of Five Rivers Cornelius ZEESTRATEN c and his various companies and managers have systematically contravened the Resource Management Act 1991 on their dairy farms since 2002. He has been served several Abatement Notices and three Infringement Notices with fines by Environment Southland for activities ranging from discharging effluent resulting in contaminations entering water to the most recent one which involved dumping dead stock and chemical drums into a pit of water. Mr. Zeestraten does not abide by the Resource Management Act. A fine cannot reverse any environmental damage his farming activites may inflict on the Mackenzie country which is a fragile environment anyway.
I am utterly opposed to the development of activities in the Mackenzie Basin which are completely at odds with the natural landscape and will no doubt cause unforseen negative consequences.
The idea of ‘battery cow farms’ is awful anywhere but in this area can only be totally hideous and probably very destructive and I am incredulous that the applicants can even consider that they will get approval. I for one am absolutely against such a development.
Good work on getting the message out. I do have one suggestion though; Make it obvious where we can download the official submission forms so we can submit against this outrage.
this must be a by-product of the Cadbury operations…
“Palm kernel is sourced from South-east Asia and is a by-product of the palm oil industry, left over after the oil has been squeezed out. It has a high protein content and with some remaining oil has a high energy value.
Zeestraten buys large volumes from J.Swap, the company driving the palm kernel boom in New Zealand.”
Good Idea /
Go to the Greens website by clicking on the blog roll link at bottom of page ” Make a submission’ Andy
My only questions are:
Did any of you vote for National and or Act in 2008?
Will you vote for them again in 2011 to perpetrate even worse outrages upon New Zealand and New Zealanders?
If you voted for them thinking they were a caring sharing government but have since seen the light, please tell them. It might help them see the error of their ways.
Didn’t you see the news Jum, John Keys has come out against these “battery cow farms”
Total agreement with your well stated opposition to this unwanted degradation of our high country. Profit for a few entrepreneurs is no reason to wreck fragile ecosystems and extinguish species. Keep up the good work. It is a sad comment on our country that it has got this far.
What the hell is wrong with this country that we could even consider anything like this! It makes me sick to call myself a new zealander!
To describe the proposed indoor facilities as “battery farming’ is absurd. The local salmon farms are closer to factory farming than these are. The land in question is not pristine, it has been so thoroughly degraded over the last 150 years that the only things that grow well are introduced trees which threaten to totally block the fantastic mountain views and are a major fire hazard.
Well you will loose the mountain views if dairy farming goes ahead. You will have shelter belts, sheds and infrastructure plus the water quality of all the nearby lakes will be destroyed. Watch our video to see the anticipated effects of dairying on this dry land. This is not an appropriate land use in this environment.
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!