The Farm Envrionment Plan Audit Process
PREPARE
Every appointment and farm visit is unique.
We need to have a good understanding of your farm before our farm visit. Our preparations involve reviewing a farms:
- Nutrient budgets
- Farm Environment Plan
- Resource consent/s
- Any previous audit reports
- Maps
- Health and safety and/or biosecurity requirements
- Any other information provided.
DISCUSSION AND FARM VISIT
Meeting with the farmer (and other team members if appropriate) on farm.
When we meet, we want to understand how you manage the risks on your farm and apply good management practices to minimise these risks and potential effects on water quality.
We do this through a combination of discussions, reviewing records, and on farm assessment. If we identify improvements are required to meet good management practice we are able to direct you to a range of appropriate supports. In addition to this, EnviroPlans relationships with a range of farm types is unique and allows us to share examples (in a non-identifying manner) of how farmer peers have implemented and achieved good management practice if areas for improvement are identified.
REPORT
After the on-farm component of your audit we draft an audit report which outlines how you are tracking against the objectives and targets required by your consent and reflected in your Farm Environment Plan.
You will have the opportunity to review a draft of this document and provide further information if relevant prior to it being finalised.
Treating your audit as a learning process will enable you to take as much value from it and may challenge your thinking in whether you can do things better to have a more sustainable and profitable business.