Bishop signals rethink on PC1 as farmers voice concern

Thursday, 9 July 2026

Minister Todd McClay and Minister Chris Bishop voiced their support of farmers’ PC1 concerns.

New rules that will affect thousands of Waikato farms are on a “collision course” with planned RMA changes, Minister Chris Bishop says.

Faced with a sea of anxious faces at Mystery Creek on Wednesday, he said the Government’s thinking “very deeply” about that problem, because it’d be “ridiculous” for the new environmental rules to be superseded soon after they were introduced.

About 350 Waikato farmers gathered to voice their concerns about PC1 to Bishop, the minister for RMA Rerorm, and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay. Many called for a pause to the plan while others spoke of confusion, concerns farm businesses would become unbankable and of a lack of consultation.

Te Pahu dairy farmer Andrew Lord was pleading for “common sense”.

Dairy farmer Andrew Lord is worried about what farming will look like for his children under PC1 rules.

“I’m concerned about the push and pull of not knowing where the hell we are or where we’re going … Farmers work a 12 to 13-hour day, barely breaking even half the time, so it scares me that we’re wondering what the land is even going to be worth for my children.

“I’ve got daughters, one’s five and one’s eight. What we do now is going to have a huge impact on what the industry and what New Zealand looks like when they’re 30 years old.”

The Waikato farming community gathered at Mystery Creek on Wednesday at a Federated Farmers meeting on PC1 with ministers Todd McClay and Chris Bishop.

Like many, Lord was also worried about the impact on farm values and how young farmers would handle the requirements.

“I have bought a farm and I know that when you’re in that situation you are heavily leveraged and if anything happens to the value of your land, your business is no longer bankable.”

Whangamarino farmer Malcom Lumsden reckons his biggest worry is property values and bank lending being affected by PC1 uncertainty.

Malcom Lumsden, dairy farmer of 64 years, was among those who spoke, and called for the ministers to protect farmers.

“We farm 430ha in the Whangamarino area and I don’t believe that we can financially meet the challenges that are laid down. If you look at our equity, no bank’s going to lend us money with the uncertainty we face in a restricted discretionary consent.

‘Everywhere you buy vegetables will be impacted by this,’ grower Brendn Balle said.

“It’s going to impact our land values … and we will be required to fund over a million dollars just to meet the potential consent conditions.Who’s going to buy our farm when there’s so much uncertainty as to whether there’s going to be changes to the consent process?”

They had already fenced tens of kilometres of drains and done the “best they can” to protect the environment, he said, but the council failed to recognise the work already being done.

PC1 is on a ‘collision course’ with plans for a more permissive planning system, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says.

Vegetable growers were among the crowd and large grower Brendan Balle raised concerns over needing to get controlled or discretionary consents.

“The impact of that will be on the New Zealand economy and the supply of vegetables to our supermarkets and greengrocers. Everywhere you buy vegetables will be impacted by this policy.

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says it is a ‘travesty’ how much time and money has been spent on PC1.

The Government and iwi partners needed to find a better way “than just allowing the regional council staff to come up with these ridiculous rules”, he said.

Bishop appeared to stand with farmers. He expressed his “surprise,” over the timing of the Environment Court’s decision and did not think PC1 would “mesh” with the new planning legislation.

Waikato Federated Farmers president Chris Woolerton thanked the ministers for attending and considering a pause on PC1.

He was “taking advice” on what he could do to influence PC1 but couldn’t confirm what action would be taken. However, “anything was on the table,” including the pause h the Feds have called for.

“You’ve got an entirely new planning system coming with different rules, a much more permissive and liberal approach … and you’ve got PC1 smacking into that on a collision course and I want to assure you that we are thinking very deeply and carefully about what we do about that problem.”

He said operating under PC1 for a short period of time just for it to be superseded by the new planning rules would be “ridiculous”.

“We can’t get ourselves into a situation where PC1 rolls out at the same time as the new planning system starts. That would seem to me to be a regressive and retrograde option.

It was ridiculous for a plan to spend a decade “tied up in court”, causing grief, anxiety and uncertainty, he said.

“One thing that’s top of mind for us is to avoid that ever happening again and a part of that is a much more collaborative, relationship-based approach.”

Meanwhile, McClay said it was a “travesty” how much time and money had been spent on PC1 in court instead of on innovation and finding water quality solutions.

“We’re doing a lot work with Andrew Hoggard around freshwater farm plans … Most of you in this room will already have a freshwater farm plan.

“We’re taking the approach that if you’re doing that, why would we make you do another one for us and another one for the regional council. That’s duplication, that’s red tape, that’s unnecessary cost.”

He added that he was a firm believer in catchment groups and how they enable farmers to take responsibility for decision making, and hoped to see councils working with them.