Changing Drains Into Ecosystems
A drain is sometimes considered a negative word associated with depletion, exhaustion and loss of resources.
Rural folks wringing their hands about tank water levels will welcome a device from Davey Water Products.
Household tensions rise as tank levels fall and rain holds off, so you give up and order a tanker-full that usually arrives just before the heavens open.
Davey’s new TankSense allows real-time monitoring of tank levels; it plumbs into the delivery feed from the tank with a single ¼-inch BSP fitting.
The TankSense works via a smartphone app to the householder informed of tank levels; it delivers alerts as levels get low, predicts rainfall based on weather forecasts and is customisable to individual households or businesses.
The system also tracks monthly water use and predicts how many days supply remains in the tank.
Compatible with iOS and Android devices, the system has a 50-100m working range via a Bluetooth connection, pressure accuracy of +/- 1% and a battery life of 24 months.
New Zealand's diverse cheesemaking talent shone brightly last night as the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) crowned the champions of the 2026 New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Tracing has indicated that the source of the first velvetleaf find of the 2025-26 crop season, in Auckland, was likely maize purchased in the Waikato region.
Fish & Game New Zealand has announced its election priorities in its Manifesto 2026.
With the forage maize harvest started in Northland and the Waikato, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is telling growers of later crops, or those further south, to start checking their maize crop maturity about three weeks prior to when they think they will start silage harvesting.
Irrigation NZ is warning that the government's Resource Management Act (RMA) reform risks falling short of its objectives unless water use for food production and water storage infrastructure are clearly recognised in the goals at the top of the new system.
More than five million trays, or 18,000 tonnes, of Zespri’s RubyRed Kiwifruit will soon be available for consumers across 16 markets this season.
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