25 Feb 2014

Effluent management under spotlight

1:17 pm on 25 February 2014

Effluent management is one of the issues under the spotlight in Federated Farmers' overhaul of the agreement setting the standard conditions for contracts between sharemilkers and farm owners.

The aim is to modernise it and get rid of some outdated conditions.

Chief among those is the so-called "set-off" clause giving owners the power to instruct their dairy company to withhold up to threequarters of the milk payment due to a sharemilker during a dispute.

Both farm employer and sharemilker representatives say that clause should be removed because it's draconian and against common law, and has been abused by some owners during disputes.

Federated Farmers employer chair Tony Wilding says that will be ratified once other changes have been worked through. One of those is clarifying the line of responsibility between owners and sharemilkers over effluent management.

Mr Wilding says new the sharemilker agreement will be available for the 2015-16 season.