With the help of our friends at Dairy Women’s Network, we recently ran a Q&A panel discussion in Morrinsville to explore the compliance challenges we are facing in the Waikato. The panel included representatives from AsureQuality, Dairy NZ and Waikato Regional Council, and local dairy farmer, Sam Jones.
Our key take-outs from the discussion were:
- Compliance isn’t going to go away, (or change much from the proposed rules) so we need to get our heads around it now.
- We’re dealing with a multitude of variable pieces of compliance which we’re going to have to learn to manage as part of our everyday on-farm activities.
- Recording what we do as we do it in a digital format using photos and phone apps is a great way to reduce the hassle of record keeping for auditing. Regulators have seen every trick in the (paper) book and can tell when things don’t add up. Going digital is a great way to keep the regulator happy.
- The better our records are, the faster and more efficient the auditors visit is. Also, it’s less likely we’ll get a visit from authorities if our records are all up to date and organised.
- Putting on our ‘Customer Goggles’ every now and then are a good way to remind us about Good Management Practices and transparency. Viewing our farms through the eyes of the consumer makes us more aware of our image.
- Environmental compliance is a big challenge, and some are finding the process overwhelming or simply don’t know where to get started because we’re not sure which and what rules apply to us.
FarmIQ is here to get you started and organised with compliance and all the other admin tasks that seem to consume your day. Learn about our Farm Environment Plan and great recording tools here. It’s farm environment planning and record keeping made easy, so you stay in control.
