Environmental Liability, Planning and Lending for Agribusiness - Breakfast Seminar

Description

Guest speakers;

• Hans van der Wal - Resource Management Lawyer

• Steve Wilkes - WilkesRM Ltd

• Cameron Doig - Doig Agribusiness Limited
   

2 Alfred Street, Blenheim

FREE seminar including light breakfast and refreshments.

Limited places available, bookings essential.  

Our guest speakers will cover three key topics for the rural sector. Hans will provide some tips for minimising exposure to environmental prosecutions and other enforcement action in a changing Resource Management world. Steve will deliver an update on where the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan is at, as well as discussing the implications of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater for the primary sector. Cameron will highlight what is driving bank agri appetite and funding costs, the importance of setting your own risk parameters, how to keep an eye on the margin you are being charged and differences of regional loan pricing within New Zealand. 

‘93% of farmers said that environmental compliance would be a major driver for financial pressure over the next 5 years’. Jointly commissioned survey of 600 farms by Xero and Figured.

Guest Speaker Bios;

Hans van der Wal - Resource Management Lawyer

Hans van der Wal is a barrister who has worked with the Resource Management Act 1991 and other local government legislation since 1996.  He has worked for Councils, including a period as an in-house lawyer and has been in private practice since 2008, joining Queen Street Chambers in Blenheim in April 2021 after moving from Christchurch. Hans has a particular focus on enforcement and other contentious RMA matters requiring Council and Court hearings. He has appeared in all levels of hearings, from Council up to the Supreme Court.

Steve Wilkes - WilkesRM Ltd

Steve is a senior resource management professional who specialises in resource management planning, community consultation, policy development, water resources and sustainable land management. Whilst much of Steve’s current time involves the preparation of resource consent applications for clients for both regional and district planning developments, Steve has also prepared and presented expert evidence at the EPA, Environment Court, High Court and local Council Resource Consent Hearings. 

Cameron Doig - Doig Agribusiness Limited

Cameron Doig is an independent Agribusiness Advisor based in Marlborough and covering the Top of the South Island including northern Canterbury and West Coast. From a Canterbury mixed cropping farm he also grew up with practical horticultural experience through his mother’s family berry fruit farm near Nelson. Having completed a Lincoln degree he worked in farm business advisory roles in both New Zealand and the UK for over ten years. Returning to New Zealand in 2009 he worked in rural banking for the next twelve years, all based in Marlborough. While always managing a mixed portfolio of farm types, this provided significant exposure to the viticulture industry.