Feds, Landcorp plan water talks

 Feds provincial president for Rotorua/Taupo, Allan Wills, says as many as 60 dairy farmers in the catchment fear they will be denied enough water to wash down their dairy sheds. 

Wills claims this is because Wairakei Pastoral, the owner of large landholdings now being converting to dairying, has gained consents for most of the available water in the catchment. Landcorp manages the farms for Wairakei Pastoral.

Wills acknowledges Wairakei Pastoral acquired the water consents by legal and legitimate means, but questions the ethics of its move. 

Farmers had the same opportunity as Wairakei Pastoral to apply for the water consents, but these were awarded by the regional council on a first-come, first-served basis and local farmers missed out.

Says Wills, “The Wairakei Pastoral Landcorp partnership needs to be part of the solution. Every farmer has to have consent to use water for cleaning stock sheds. Stock water and domestic water is guaranteed, but the problem is with the water used for irrigation and shed wash-down.”

Landcorp chief executive Steven Carden says while he knows Federated Farmers’ concerns about water allocation, it’s the regional council that allocates the water. Wairakei Pastoral, as the owners of the land in question, applied for the water consents in 2011 and gained these in 2012. The water is essentially for stock and for shed wash-down, with some provision for irrigation. Only about 14% of the Wairakei estate is irrigated, Carden says.

“Landcorp and Wairakei Pastoral will have to sit around the table and work out the options. It’s certainly not Landcorp’s aim to see people disadvantaged.” 

Carden says the meeting with Federated Farmers, in early December, will be part of a wider dialogue Landcorp is having with its stakeholders. Landcorp wants to be open about what it is doing and give others an opportunity to engage with the company and see what can happen as a result of that dialogue.