Effective farm environment planning leads to better informed decision-making, which can improve both the profitability and long-term viability of your farm.
Farm environment plans are tools for managing environmental risk, encouraging you to recognise potential risks to the natural environment and determine actions to manage and mitigate those risks.
The coalition Government's Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act enacted a range of changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and associated secondary legislation, but freshwater farm plans are officially on pause while the government works through changes to make the system more cost-effective and practical for farmers. We have retired parts of this page until details of the planned improvements become clear.
In the meantime, continue to be mindful of the ongoing importance of mitigating risks on farm that may impact fresh water.
How WRC are supporting farmers with farm environment planning
We are supporting farmers with farm environment planning by publishing catchment information (previously catchment context, challenges and values - CCCV) across the Waikato region.
Catchment information
Catchment information is about understanding your farming or growing operation as a part of your local catchment or sub-catchment. You apply catchment information by considering how your farm’s natural landscape and farming/growing activities impact the health of fresh water and freshwater ecosystems in your catchment. Catchment information also helps you to identify how best to manage or reduce those impacts to protect the health of your catchment for future generations.
- In 2023, Catchment information for Waipā and West Coast South Freshwater Management Units (FMUs) were published.
- Throughout 2026, we will publish catchment information for sub-catchments across the Waikato and Waipā catchments.
- The first of these is catchment information for the Matahuru sub-catchment (see below).
- We are grateful to the various farmers, catchment groups, rural professionals and industry organisations who participated in our user testing and provided feedback to help us develop this resource. The development of catchment information is on-going, and we anticipate these resources will be updated over time, particularly as new information becomes available.
- We anticipate further resources will be made available in future to supplement catchment information and support effective farm planning.
Online module
We encourage you to make use of our online module, which builds understanding of key environmental planning concepts and how they apply to farm environment plans. This resource was published in 2023 and specifically refers to Waikato Plan Change 1 (PC1), explaining why we need it what it means for Waikato farmers.
Have further questions?
If you have any further questions about our regional freshwater farm plan rollout, please send them to our Primary Industry Engagement team at pie@waikatoregion.govt.nz and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.