Reliable irrigation crucial to hort sector
Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) says access to reliable irrigation water is essential for a thriving horticultural sector.
A proposed irrigation scheme in South Canterbury has been dumped after losing Government and farmer support.
The Hunter Downs Water (HDW) scheme, aimed at irrigating 12,000ha of the Waimate District with a consented water take from the Waitaki River, has finally pulled up stumps after struggling to sign up enough farmers to make it pay.
The scheme was first jeopardised by the newly elected Labour-led Government pulling support for irrigation schemes.
HDW had hoped that a loan from Crown Irrigation Investments Ltd (CIIL) loan would get it over the line, but this disappeared when the Government imposed its policy of requiring large-scale private irrigation schemes to pay their own way.
Hunter Downs said last month that it would go ahead, backed by the local rich-lister Gary Rooney’s company Rooney Holdings Ltd (RHL), well-known by Canterbury farmers for its earthmoving, irrigation, pipe and cable laying, and trucking.
“It is with great disappointment that I advise that as a result of a significant drop-off in support from those farmers previously committed, this project no longer has sufficient numbers to warrant proceeding,” HDW chair Andrew Fraser said.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
A day after the ouster of PGG Wrightson’s chair and his deputy, the listed rural trader’s board has appointed John Nichol as the new independent chair.
Tributes are pouring in from across the political divide for former Prime Minister Jim Bolger who passed away, aged 90.
The iconic services building at National Fieldays' Mystery Creek site will be demolished to make way for a "contemporary replacement that better serves the needs of both the community and event organisers," says board chair Jenni Vernon.
Agri advisor Perrin Ag says its graduate recruitment programme continues to bring new talent into the agricultural sector.
Entries are open for the 2026 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA).
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