Photo: Supplied / PCE
Federated Farmers says New Zealand's farm environment management system has been rocked to the core by the release of a report criticising the widely used farm nutrient modelling system Overseer.
Overseer was originally developed as a tool to help farmers to use fertiliser and other inputs more efficiently, but as it also estimates the nutrient loss from farms, over time it came to be used by regional councils to help inform regulations around water quality.
A report in 2018 by the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment critcised the tool as flawed, opaque and open to gaming by farmers.
Now an independent science advisory panel has backed the original concerns about Overseer, finding it is not designed to accurately estimate nutrient loss - despite this being something councils use it for.
Kathryn speaks with Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, and Federated Farmers' water quality spokesperson Chris Allen.
