Theresa Wilson DairyNZ Project Manager

When you are planning a major investment in farm effluent infrastructure it is natural to do your homework on the people who you will be writing out cheques to.

Some searching questions of company reps, brochures and references from other farmers are generally all farmers have had to go on to help make decisions between providers of effluent systems. For some farmers, that has not been enough information to go on, and despite their best intentions, they have ended up with systems that were never going to be adequate for their farm or easy to manage.

It is a significant on-farm capital outlay and it can be complex. New effluent systems can range anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 or more, depending on factors like the storage you require, how you want the effluent applied on your farm, climate, farm geography and soil type and your requirements for future growth.

Our team of effluent specialists have heard farmers across the country discuss effluent system upgrades and new installs as we have talked about the Farm Dairy Effluent Design Code of Practice and Standards. A common theme we've heard is that people looking at upgrading their systems want to ‘do it once and do it right', but they've found the growing range of options for managing effluent can make it a difficult process to negotiate before they make the investment.

If you want to ‘do it once and do it right', there is a new searching question to put to the people offering you design advice; ‘are you an accredited designer of effluent systems?'

A new accreditation programme for companies who offer effluent system design should make it easier to find out if that company has the technical skills to provide a high standard of service so you get the right system for your farm.

Accreditation is a mark of quality for designers that you should look out for. These designers are saying they maintain the design quality in their day-to-day business that they achieved by going through the accreditation evaluation process.

By passing that evaluation, you can be sure they have the ability to design systems that meet the standards set out in the Farm Dairy Effluent Design Standards and Code of Practice.

Their skills have been assessed in areas such as their understanding of regulatory requirements, soil assessment, hydraulic design, effluent composition and nutrient management and integrating these elements into workable designs.

The accreditation scheme is run by IrrigationNZ who have a number of complementary programmes covering irrigation system design, installation and evaluation, and water measurement through the IrrigationNZ Blue Tick accreditation programme.

The governance is shared between Irrigation NZ, NZ Milking and Pumping Association, DairyNZ and an independent director.
For a list of accredited effluent design companies and more details on the programme visit
www.effluentaccreditation.co.nz