Waikato Regional Council spends $20,000 on eye in the sky farm checks

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

Waikato Regional Council has spent just over $20,000 on aerial surveys across the district in three years (file photo).

Fly-over checks of farms and forests have cost Waikato Regional Council just over $20,000 in three years.

These flights can uncover breaches with big consequences, such as a recent fine of $39,000 for a Waihī farmer for repeated dairy effluent discharges. The first discharge in this case was spotted from the air.

In total, the council said it spent $22,043.63 on aerial monitoring from August 2023 to March 2026.

Waikato Regional Council compliance manager Patrick Lynch said aerial compliance checks were cost effective and a helpful tool.

An eye in the sky “can provide a cost-effective overview of potential compliance issues, and is a helpful tool,” regional compliance manager, resource use directorate, Patrick Lynch said.

Dairy farm monitoring is not behind all the costs, however, as their surveys “typically include flights over forestry sites, and more recently, have included horticulture properties”.

Lynch said the council selected areas for aerial reconnaissance based on frequency of monitoring prior to the flight date, and that they prioritise areas that have not had recent inspections.

The most recent flight took place in March this year and was intended to survey 48 dairy farms in the Matamata/Waharoa area.

“Thirty-seven farms were inspected from the air with seven follow up ground inspections completed in the following weeks,” he said.

“This flight was cut short due to weather.”

They aren’t just using fixed-wing planes either.

Lynch said council began using drones as far back as 2018.

“Drones are now considered everyday tools and accompany inspection officers on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

“They are used specifically to either; provide context of the site; or give an aerial view of any areas of concern. The use of drones is site and incident specific, and they are not used for large-scale dairy farm monitoring over multiple properties.”

Lynch said that in the Waikato region, there are about 3600 dairy farms - or approximately 22% of the national herd.

“Put another way, there are over one million dairy cows in the region,” he said.

“Anyone operating a dairy farm business must comply with the relevant rules under the Waikato Regional Plan and the Resource Management Act.

“The RMA, and we as the regulator, absolutely recognise the need for a strong economy, however where business activities interact with the environment, it must be managed sustainably.”

Lynch said they monitor around 650 farms per year, and a typical week might see inspections conducted by teams of two officers who may visit as many as four farms a day.

“The scale and importance of the dairy sector in this region is huge, but collectively so is the risk to the environment if practices are not sustainable.”