Following Reply 18564 (2026), what specific evidence is the Minister considering when he says that "Farmer-led catchment groups are already improving water quality and land management in their local communities"?

Answer

I have met with many catchment groups across the country who have shown me the work they are doing to improve the knowledge and implementation of sustainable practices among their community. One example is the Pomahaka catchment groups from West Otago. Surveying conducted after interventions by this group has shown an improvement from 14% to 71% of farmers having a paddock plan before cultivation and 84% having a winter grazing strategy.  The improvements in land management practices made by the members of this group and others have been shown to improve water quality at catchment scale in studies such as "Evidence that actions to mitigate contaminant losses from land via farm planning can improve water quality", which was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment and undertaken by independent scientists.