Irrigation New Zealand says this would drought-proof agriculture, precluding carrying the cost of a large drought every five years.
“New Zealand cannot afford to bail out its agricultural industry twice every decade – the recent turn-around for a serious dry spell,” says Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Andrew Curtis.
“A billion dollars has already been wiped out this summer through drought. Agriculture is what New Zealand is built on – even Auckland – so combating drought is an issue we all need to get to grips with.”
Combining regional and on-farm water storage development – a few billion dollars of investment – and New Zealand could future-proof its agricultural sector and thus its economy, Curtis says.
“Hill country farms able to store water and irrigate a small part of each farm – as little as 20ha – would create a strategic advantage for New Zealand agriculture. Irrigation enables feed and produce to continue in a consistent and predictable fashion year in year out.
“The North Island would not be in such dire straits if we had water storage on-farm. Winter storage is [ideal] for hill country environments as stream flows are often erratic.
In short, we need to harvest water… and store it for sunny days.”
Recent analysis in Hawke’s Bay, as part of the Ruataniwha storage proposal, showed that when sheep and beef farmers irrigated a percentage of their farm they produced a higher rate of return per irrigated hectare than dairy. Irrigation builds in resilience and provides options to a farming system.
“Imagine how much more efficient our meat and vegetable processors would be if drought didn’t wipe out crops and stock every five years. It’s not just farmers who lose; it’s their staff, the surrounding community and businesses that rely on agricultural income that also suffer.”
Curtis says while drought hasn’t been declared in the South Island, the dry spell is beginning to hit home.
With no rain forseen, South Island irrigators are starting to feel the pain as river water supplies become restricted and then move to full bans. River-based schemes like Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd have been on restriction, followed by a full ban, for the last month. This has big economic implications. The scheme calculates $30million (on and off-farm impacts) has been lost from the district already.”
In contrast, irrigation schemes serviced by the Opuha Dam in South Canterbury won’t face restriction until the end of March and then possibly only partial restrictions in April, he says.
“It’s a stark contrast between regions that have access to stored water and those that don’t.”
Opuha Dam has been able to maintain river flows well above the low natural flows they would normally experience. The flow in the Opihi River would now not exceed 50% of what it is with augmentation – even if there was no irrigation abstraction.
Curtis says the current weather proves that reliable water storage and distribution should be considered “a nationally significant strategic investment”.
“A billion dollars of investment would future-proof Canterbury for the next 100 years. And this investment would be paid back to the community within a decade if the current climatic trend continues.”
