Environmental rules cast shadow over young farmer's future

Monday, 13 July 2026

Jimmy Cleaver has recently bought his first farm but say environmental rules have left him feeling like it could be ‘ripped’ out from under his feet.

Young dairy farmer Jimmy Cleaver recently made the leap to farm ownership, but new environmental rules have left him frustrated and concerned.

“I’ve spent the last five years before coming here building up to buy a farm and then I finally do it and then it feels like it’s being ripped out from under your feet.”

Cleaver, 26, farms near Te Kauwhata in the Whangamarino and Lake Waikare catchment, where Plan Change 1(PC1) will go live first. He bought the 117ha dairy farm in partnership with his parents two years ago, but his passion for farming has been life-long.

Jimmy Cleaver has always wanted to be dairy farmer since working on his uncle’s farm.

Cleaver grew up on his parent’s drystock farm near Hampton Downs, but developed his love for dairy farming at a young age.

“My uncle was a dairy farmer and my mum spent some time milking as well, so I’d go with him and milk and muck about as little kids do.

Jimmy Cleaver reckons the season has been a good one for grass growth and payout.

“Most days aren’t the same when you’re farming. You’re calving for three months and then you’re mating, so variation is probably the best part of it.”

Cleaver runs the farm largely by himself and milks 210 cows. While the farm was a stepping stone to a bigger operation, he said he’d been planning to stay for a “wee while” but that could now be uncertain.

Jimmy Cleaver loves farming because ever day is different, but has a particular interest in the mating season and work as a technician.

Alongside spending his days in the milking shed or the calf barn, Cleaver was also involved in Federated Farmers and served as the Waikato vice Dairy Chair and the Chair of the North Waikato branch.

One of his priorities was to increase farmer engagement with the organisation - a priority that was fast becoming important with farmers looking for support as PC1 gets closer to being launched.

Jimmy Cleaver has inherited a man-made wetland with his farm which he carefully cares for.

“It’s a big book being chucked at you and it’s hard to understand. There’s so many different elements to it and it’s not all confirmed yet, so farmers don’t know what work they are going to have to do and it’s hard to get your head around.

“The biggest thing for me is that the intergenerational farmers have lived on the land their whole life and then with Plan Change 1 coming, it’s going to effect them massively. The only way some of them will get through might be to move somewhere else and then that whole intergenerational farm is gone.”

Jimmy Cleaver has held a couple of fieldays at the wetland to show others how planting boggy areas can improve water quality and bird-life.

Under the proposed PC1, more than 400 farmers in the Whangamarino Wetland Catchment will have to obtain a restricted discretionary resource consent to continue their existing farming activities.

Their application will need to be supported by a tailored farm environment plan for their area’s issues. These farmers were set to be the first group to adopt PC1 in its proposed five-year roll-out due to the degraded state of these water-bodies.

Jimmy Cleaver reckons farmers in the area feel ‘blind-sided’ by some of the talk around regulations.

The Waikato Regional Council (WRC) has also led the development of the Whangamarino Action Plan to reduce contaminant loss and improve water quality.

The action plan is non-statutory and WRC has not made any commitments to implement the plan so far. They held an information evening in May for the community and opened the plan up for feedback.

Although the Action Plan is none-regulatory, Cleaver reckoned the timing with PC1 had left some farmers feeling unsettled and concerned about on-farm costs rising due to things like fencing, farm environment plans and losing land to stock exclusion and afforestation.

“It wasn’t until the meeting about a month ago that any of the farmers had heard about the Action Plan really … They had a little group of three farms to test ideas but they hadn’t gone and talked to the actual farmers. Their ideas are all good and relevant, but they hadn’t talked to the community, so they feel blind-sided.

“Most farmers want to look out for the land and improve water quality and they have been doing the work for years now, but they are not being recognised for it. It’s not just the farmers that are the issue, what about all the koi in the waterways?

“The other thing is, give farmers small things to work on now rather than chucking the whole book at them. Give them ten pages to work on and then slowly build on that and you’ll find that more farmers will actually get on board with it.”

WRC Environmental Science Manager, Mike Scarsbrook, said in a statement that sediment reduction was a key part of the Action Plan and afforestation of steep hillsides was one of four key actions identified in the plan.

“There is no one solution and the plan takes an integrated approach to managing the catchment. Everyone will need to contribute to solving the complex issues in the catchment … The purpose of the Plan is to identify actions that, if implemented, will result in significant improvements in the health and wellbeing of Lake Waikare and Whangamarino Wetland.

Cleaver’s pride and joy on his farm was a large wetland area developed by the previous owner ten years ago. He is out there mowing the tracks and monitoring the plantings each week and frequently holds fieldays so farmers can come see how it works.