A Morrinsville farmer says his livelihood depends on irrigating, and he doesn't want to be taxed for it.

Bradley Pickett is one of three farmers in the area who have consents from the local Council to irrigate in the drier months - usually December through February.

He was part of a rally against taxing farmers for water and emissions at Morrinsville's "mega cow" yesterday.

His farm uses on average 91 thousand cubic metres of water a year, which would cost him 15 hundred dollars if water was taxed at one-and-a-half cents per litre as Labour propose.

He says, "You whack that on top of it and the carbon tax, so yeah it's going to be a huge shock and a huge change to the system"

Mr Pickett isn't keen to pay it, on top of the 10 percent he'd also pay on his farm's emissions, but he also doesn't want to stop irrigating

"It's very important, our lives depend on it really and we need it to grow grass for our system."