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217C: Application of this Part
or “This part tells you where and when the rules about freshwater farm plans start working in different parts of New Zealand.”
You could also call this:

“Farms over a certain size or with specific types of land use must have a special plan to protect freshwater.”

You need to have a certified freshwater farm plan for your farm if it meets certain size requirements. You need a plan if your farm has 20 or more hectares of arable land, 5 or more hectares of horticultural land, or 20 or more hectares of pastoral land. You also need a plan if your farm has a certain amount of other types of agricultural land, as set by the government in section 217M(1)(b). If your farm has a mix of these different land uses adding up to 20 or more hectares, you need a plan too.

Sometimes, these size requirements might change. The government can make an order to remove a size requirement or to increase it. If this happens, you follow the new rules instead.

When you have a certified freshwater farm plan, it covers your entire farm, not just parts of it.

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Next up: 217E: Main duties of farm operators

or “Farm operators must create, follow, and update a special plan to protect freshwater on their farms.”
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Part 9A Freshwater farm plans

217DFarm must have certified freshwater farm plan if it meets land use threshold

  1. A farm must have a certified freshwater farm plan if—

  2. 20 or more hectares of the farm is arable land use; or
    1. 5 or more hectares of the farm is horticultural land use; or
      1. 20 or more hectares of the farm is pastoral land use; or
        1. a prescribed area of the farm is other agricultural land use prescribed in regulations made under section 217M(1)(b); or
          1. 20 or more hectares of the farm is a combination of any 2 or more of the land uses described above.

            1. However,—

            2. if an order made under section 217C(2A)(a) disapplies a statutory land use area threshold, a farm is not subject to that threshold; and
              1. if an order made under section 217C(2A)(b) disapplies a statutory land use area threshold and prescribes a higher land use area threshold in its place, a farm is subject to the higher threshold.

                1. A certified freshwater farm plan applies to the entire farm.

                Notes
                • Section 217D: inserted, on , by section 64 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 30).
                • Section 217D(1A): inserted, on , by section 805(4) of the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (2023 No 46).