Crafar family, fined for discharges, in talks to sell farms

Wednesday 9th September 2009

Crafarms, the owner of some 30 farms mainly in the central North Island, is seeking a buyer for its operations after being saddled with fines and costs for effluent discharges and high debt levels.

Allan Crafar, one of the principals and a member of Fonterra’s Shareholders’ Council, said the family business has been in talks with a Chinese group about a potential sale and has since opened the sale to other potential buyers.

He said the farming enterprise has struggled under its debt levels, though “no more than anyone else who has had a go in life in the last few years.”The farms carry about 30,000 stock units, making them business one of New Zealand’s largest dairy farming ventures.

Crafar Farms was fined $90,000 by the Hamilton District Court last month after a series of lapses caused discharges from its effluent system. The group’s run-ins with authorities date back some years, including what was in 2007 a record $35,000 fine for discharges in from land at Reporoa in 2004.

The latest prosecution was brought by Waikato Regional Council, which cited a catalogue of offences, including effluent seeping into ponds and overflows from sumps.

Businesswire.co.nz

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