Farming FAQ

TOP aims to make environmental compliance easier, with one seamless system including biodiversity, climate and fresh water. We want to provide farmers with certainty, particularly over the cost of compliance.

New Zealand's economy needs to focus on value rather than volume, and farming is no exception to this. Instead of aiming to increase the amount of produce we grow, we need to be producing high-quality produce aimed at discerning consumers. This will include environmental providence.

Farms need to operate within the limits that the land can sustain. We want to help transition farms to be sustainable, and in most of the country that will be possible simply by getting farmers operating at best practice. If farms consistently operate outside what the land can sustain, then yes, they should eventually be charged for it.

No. TOP will provide farm advisers to help develop farm plans. These will need to be implemented over time, but there will also be assistance and incentives to support farmers with that transition. Farmers will be rewarded for protecting existing wetlands and stands of native bush, plus planting erosion-prone land and riverbanks.

Standards will be based on farm plans which can be customised to individual farms circumstances. Water quality improvements will be determined collectively by the farmers in a sub-catchment.

No. Productive farms that operate within the limits of what their land can sustain will not pay more under TOP's policies. In fact they will be rewarded for planting erosion-prone land and riverbanks.