Farm Portal

Welcome to the Farm Portal. Especially designed for Canterbury's farmers, this tool will help you meet your new environmental obligations.

This is a refreshed Farm Portal with clear OverseerFM and NCheck pathways in an easy to use process.

Using the Farm Portal, you can calculate your nitrogen losses relative to Good Management Practice (GMP) using either Overseer or in some cases you can use NCheck. To find out more visit https://www.canterburywater.farm/gmp

To register a property on the Farm Portal as a permitted activity for the use of land for a farming activity please use the NCheck pathway.


In summary the Farm Portal has:

  1. Updated GMP Loss Rate calculations, aligned with the Council decisions on Plan Change 5 to the Land and Water Regional Plan (as amended by the High Court), and

Ready to get started through the Overseer pathway? There are a few things to have on hand before you begin:

  • Your baseline OverseerFM publications (2009-2013) at the current version of Overseer, if available
  • Your last four years' OverseerFM publications

For those using NCheck:

  • Information about your farm system (i.e. area of farm irrigated, number of animals etc.

Environment Canterbury Equivalent Pathway

Welcome to the Environment Canterbury Equivalent Pathway (ECEP) tool. This tool has been developed as part of the Environment Canterbury Equivalent Pathway to aid in calculating the Equivalent Baseline GMP Loss Rates and Equivalent Good Management Practice Loss Rates, for use when the Farm Portal generates an erroneous GMP loss rate.

For more information on the Environment Canterbury Equivalent Pathway, please read the FAQ.

The ECEP is a tool developed by Environment Canterbury to assist with calculating the nitrogen loss from a farm operating at Good Management Practice. Important things to note about the ECEP:

  • The ECEP is identical to the Farm Portal, except that unlike the Farm Portal, the ECEP does not adjust the fertiliser inputs in your Overseer budget.
  • The ECEP may only be used where it has been demonstrated that:
    • the Farm Portal is producing a number that doesn’t reflect GMP (ie it produces an erroneous result), and
    • the reason for the erroneous result is due to the Farm Portal making an inappropriate adjustment to your fertiliser inputs.

Please note if you use the ECEP tool, you still need to make sure that the timing and amount of fertiliser applied is consistent with Good Management Practice for your farming activity. This means you may need to reduce the amount, or the timing, of fertiliser applied in order to generate an Equivalent GMP Loss Rate.

Please note that the use of this tool is not compulsory for the calculation of Equivalent GMP Loss Rates but has been developed to provide a consistent and streamlined approach for those that wish to use it (where appropriate).

Ready to get started through the Environment Canterbury Equivalent Pathway? There are a few things to have on hand before you begin:

  • Your baseline OverseerFM publications (2009-2013) at the current version of Overseer; and
  • You last four years OverseerFM publications.

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