Few rules have moved as much as Freshwater Farm Plans (FW-FPs). Short version: the rollout’s paused, the thresholds went up, and certification got narrower. Here’s where it actually sits in 2026 — and the standing caveat is to verify the live position for your region and processor before you bank a date on it.

Where it started

  • Part 9A of the RMA 1991, with the detail in the Freshwater Farm Plans Regulations 2023 — live from 1 August 2023.
  • Rolled out by region: Southland and Waikato first (Aug 2023), then Otago and the West Coast (Feb 2024), then Manawatū-Whanganui (Apr 2024).
  • Then paused in 2024.

What the 2025 Amendment Act did

The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 came into force on 20 August 2025. Three things matter:

  • Thresholds up. Pastoral / arable / mixed lifted from 20 ha to 50 ha or more. Horticulture stays at 5 ha+. All commercial dairy is in, whatever the size. Roughly 8,000 smaller, lower-risk farms drop out.
  • Certification narrowed. A certified plan is now required only where it’s prescribed — prescribed activities, prescribed catchments, or where the plan is used to meet another regulatory requirement. Everyone else can certify voluntarily.
  • The Minister approves certifiers now, not regional councils.

The catch

Which activities and catchments count as “prescribed” sits in amended regulations that weren’t finalised as of mid-2026. So nobody needs a certified plan until that list is live — and you’ve read it. The national rollout stays paused until then. Don’t tell a client they “need certification” off the back of the old rules.

Southland is the exception

During the pause, Southland farmers are still bound by Environment Southland’s operative Land & Water Plan. The pause doesn’t let Southland off.

Why you still map now

Here’s the part that hasn’t changed and won’t: Regulation 11 — the “what to map” list — is untouched. Boundaries and leased land, land units, waterways and wetlands, soils, slope, critical source areas, drainage, effluent, crossings, stock-exclusion fencing, riparian planting. It’s the backbone of every version of this regime — and of your NZFAP+ and dairy-company plans alongside it.

Build the map and the per-unit risk assessment once and you’ve done the heavy lifting whichever way the rules land. You also get a genuinely useful management tool in the meantime.

Bottom line: don’t rush to certify against rules that aren’t finished. Don’t down tools on the mapping either. Map now, certify when the prescribed list is real — and check your region first.