A Taranaki farmer with a history of dirty dairying has been issued with New Zealand's first multi-farm enforcement order.

Francis John Mullan, Rahotu, was found guilty in the Environment Court at New Plymouth in December 2014 of two charges of discharging effluent into groundwater and a stream on one of his seven farms.

The charges related to an incident in March 2013 in which a Taranaki Regional Council officer made a routine inspection of Mullan's Upper Kina Rd farm and found a broken pump causing effluent to overflow onto land.

The effluent flooded an area of 80 square metres and continued to flow down a drain that led to a tributary of the Oaonui Stream.

At sentencing, in January this year, Judge Craig Thompson said Mullan viewed himself "too important to be part of the rules and responsibilities that apply to the rest of the farming world."

Mullan was fined $66,000, $33,000 on each charge, the largest fine of its kind imposed in the region.

During the sentencing the TRC also entered an application for an enforcement order, which requires Mullan to significantly improve his compliance level and reduce the environmental effects of his operations across his seven farms, which Judge Thompson eventually issued on May 21, TRC director operations Fred McLay said.

The enforcement order was needed because "of a poor attitude to consent compliance," McLay said.

"Mullan has had a long non-compliance history on the majority of his seven dairy farms for which enforcement has been necessary. The enforcement has included four prosecutions, two infringement notices and 11 abatement notices."

In August 2004, Mullan was fined a total of $25,000 on effluent charges relating to events in October 2002 and March 2004. Then in May 2014 he was fined a further $30,000 for two charges relating to an incident in December 2013.

"The enforcement order is the first to be issued in New Zealand for multiple dairy farms," McLay said.

Mullan's counsel agreed to the order being issued for all seven farms.

Order documents state Mullan "shall, at his cost, obtain and provide to the TRC by June 30, 2015, a written compliance and contingency plan for the operation of effluent systems on all dairy farms operated by him or in which he has a proprietorial interest."

The plan is to be prepared by Fonterra's Kevin Taylor and include methodology for adherence on a daily basis, an induction process for new staff, training process for all staff and a procedure for notifying the council of any breach within 24 hours.

The plan must satisfy the council and if not supplied by June 30 the matter can be referred back to the Environment Court, the order states.

Mullan will also have to arrange monitoring, by Taylor, of the effluent systems on all of his dairy farms in the Taranaki region.

Taylor will carry out the monitoring at two-monthly intervals with the first round to be undertaken by July 15. The monitoring will be paid for by Mullan and will be in addition to that which TRC officers carry out.