Southland freshwater farm plans deadline extended

The timeframe for Southland farmers to submit freshwater farm plans has been extended to ensure they can benefit from the updated national system to be adopted later this year.

The regulation currently requires farmers to prepare and submit a farm plan by 27 May 2026, before improvements to the national freshwater farm plan system are finalised.

Cabinet has agreed that this is now impractical and is pushing the date out to give farmers certainty.

Southland farmers and growers will now have until the end of November 2027 to submit their farm plan and benefit from the updated system.