Government review of Overseer

Frequently asked questions

• What is Overseer?
  • Overseer is a NZ-developed software tool that models the nutrient flows on to and off farms and farm blocks.
    
    
  • It’s used by farmers and land managers to support financial and environmental decision making.
    
    
  • Overseer has been the best available model for calculating nutrient losses. Over time, it has helped farmers make on-farm practice improvements to reduce nutrient losses.
• How is Overseer used in the Waikato region?
  • In the Waikato, landowners use Overseer to inform nutrient management decision making on their farms.
    
    
  • Overseer is an integral part of the rules that are in place in the Lake Taupō catchment. It is also incorporated in the Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1 rules.
    
    
  • It is used to inform consent applications for land use change and discharges of waste to land.
• What did the Government review find?
  • Overall, the Scientific Advisory Panel concluded that it would not have confidence in Overseer’s estimates of nitrogen lost from farms, in its current form.
• What does the Government intend to do?
  • A project is being established to consider developing a next generation Overseer to address some of the issues identified by the panel.
    
    
  • Overseer will continue to be supported for at least the next 12 months to ensure the model remains available for use as required by existing plans and consents.
    
    
  • The Ministries for the Environment and Primary Industries will investigate and develop new tools and approaches to managing nutrient loss from farms that support the primary production industry and assist regional councils’ freshwater plan-making, monitoring and compliance work.
  • The Government’s aim is to have new tools or options available for use by mid-2022.
    
    
  • The Government advises farmers and land managers using Overseer for nutrient budgeting not to rely on it alone to inform decisions about future land management.
• What does the announcement mean for the Waikato region?
  • While we need to understand the detail of the Government’s review and subsequent decisions, it does not have an immediate effect on our consents. That’s because we have a statuatory obligation to continue applying the provisions in our operative plans.
    
    
  • As such, consent conditions will continue to apply, and new applications will continue to be processed.
    
    
  • The Government’s also been clear that regional councils need to continue developing and implementing their plans, administering existing consents and processing new ones. That’s why they’re continuing to support Overseer while the issues raised by the review report, and possible options to address those issues, are resolved.

  • With regard to Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1, which is currently before the Environment Court, time is needed for us to consider the review and its outcome.
    
    
  • We will be in direct contact with appellants and update our website with any developments: www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/healthyrivers.
• Will Waikato Regional Council still use Overseer to assess consent applications?
  • The report findings are not entirely new. Variability in modelled outputs has been widely understood and well recognised. That’s why we sometimes require applicants to provide us with multiple sources of data and evidence. Moving forward, this supplementary information will be even more important.
    
    
  • We will require robust technical information about the levels of nutrient loading to land and the mitigations consent applicants intend to put in place to reduce them.

  • Consent applications based solely on Overseer modelled estimates are unlikely to provide sufficient information and confidence for us to make a consenting decision.
• What does the announcement mean for the Lake Taupō catchment?
  • The Government’s announcement doesn’t change anything in the Lake Taupō catchment. Consents in this catchment are consistent with our current approved rules. As such, existing consent conditions still apply, and consent holders can expect monitoring of their activity to demonstrate they are complying with conditions.
    
    
  • The report findings are not entirely new. Variability in modelled outputs was taken into account when the rules were developed for the Lake Taupō catchment, including decisions around compliance monitoring.
    
    
  • People in the Lake Taupō catchment who want more information should talk to Jon Palmer (their local advisor) on 378 6539 or Sonia Baker in our consents team on 0800 800 401.