SEWG – Meeting 19 February 2026 – Invercargill

The theme for our meeting was Vegetation to Manage erosion, starting off with a compliance update from both councils. ORC congratulated the industry on the handling of the recent windthrow event and how far the industry has come over time with regards to environmental compliance.

Sandra Campell from MPI On Farm Support gave us a down-to-earth presentation on the learnings and successes of native planting using drone seeding and maintenance spraying. James McEwan from Wenita discussed the evolution, pros and cons of over-sowing as a tool to manage surface run-off from cutovers.

ORC Mark Crawford & Dr Eric Button discussed the limitations of using ESC and LUC systems to determine environmental risk and spoke about other models that may be better.

Our day ended with Richard Kyle from Thriving Southland discussing the importance and benefits of catchments groups and the work they are doing to improve site specific risk management on farms. Topped off by a trip to AB lime in Winton where we looked a large swale drain constructed in an ephemeral pathway to reduce sediment and phosphorus entering water ways.