New penalties for Fonterra suppliers who breach regional council environment rules have prompted a warning that farmers could face double jeopardy.
Fonterra announced on Friday plans for a milk payout deduction system from the 2010-11 season of $1500 for suppliers who receive an infringement notice and $3000 for those prosecuted by a regional council for effluent discharge.
Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin welcomed the move but said he wanted to see the detail.
His main concern was that regional council action against a farmer could "aid and abet" further prosecution, or double jeopardy.
The key was how Fonterra took action against a non-complying supplier and that there was a definite line of difference between the council action and the Fonterra action.
Mr Martin believed Fonterra's stance would give suppliers an added incentive to ensure they complied with council standards.
The Otago Regional Council has taken a tougher line against non-complying dairy farmers in recent years, in the 2007-08 season finding 33 of the region's 351 dairy farmers to have one or more breaches.
Those breaches resulted in 18 infringement fines being issued.
In the 2008-09 season, 21 farmers faced legal action for noncompliance, but the noncompliance and the impact of dairy farming on waterways in particular has generated a groundswell of public anger against farmers.
The chairman of Fonterra's sustainability leadership team, Barry Harris, said effluent management continued "to let Fonterra and its farmers down," which threatened the image of New Zealand dairying and access to natural resources.
He estimated 11% of more than 11,000 Fonterra suppliers "still seriously breach" regional council regulations.
"For practically everyone in our industry, those levels are unacceptable."
Fonterra would redirect staff to provide advice to farmers identified as struggling to meet compliance rules, he said.
Mr Harris said farmers would have the 2009-10 season before the penalty part of the measures, known as the effluent improvement system, came into force.
He hoped to cut noncompliance by half by August 2011.
Once the introductory period was over, Mr Harris said, farmers facing regional council enforcement action would also face financial penalties.
The action has the support of Fonterra's Shareholder's Council but Federated Farmers has described it as having good intentions but detail that was flawed.
The organisation's dairy section chairman, Lachlan McKenzie, said the vast majority of farmers played by the rules, but those who did breach standards would be fined twice - once by regional councils and again by Fonterra.
