Those who spoke as part of Federated Farmers' submission at the 6A water plan panel hearing yesterday were concerned the limits in the plan were unrealistic.
The proposed plan change means farmers who are unable to meet limits will have to apply to the council for resource consents.
Taieri dairy farmer and immediate past president of Otago Federated Farmers Mike Lord said almost no farms would be able to meet the standards.
"It will result in resource consents for every farm in Otago, which is not what we were told when we were presented with this approach," Mr Lord said.
He used his own farm as an example, saying testing had shown it would not meet the proposed nitrogen-level requirements for water leaving the farm, despite the extensive efforts he was making to meet environmental standards.
The assertion very few farms would meet the appropriate standards was supported by expert witness James Cooke, who also made submissions for Federated Farmers.
Based on analysis of published information on Otago farms, "nearly all pastoral farms" would breach standards and therefore require resource consent, he said.
Ettrick dairy farmer Grant Scott said he did not believe the plan had been properly communicated to the farming community and it was only now that farmers were beginning to realise its implications.
The requirement for him to adhere to a 10kg-per-hectare nitrogen discharge under the proposed plan would make his farm no longer economically viable, he said.
"We converted the property 11 years ago to create our dream farm and to create opportunities for family. The prospect of having to walk away from it and the destruction of the major share of our accumulated wealth has been sobering," he said.
Federated Farmers Otago president Stephen Korteweg said he had been "inundated" with calls from concerned farmers and asked on the panel to "seriously consider" the points that farmers had made.
"We all know that to be successful any changes need to be ... affordable as well as allowing sensible time frames. They also have to be done in partnership with farmers and not be overly punitive or unpredictable in the way they are enforced," Mr Korteweg said.
