increase font size
Land that turned to mud during Cyclone Gabrielle will be in danger of turning into concrete if the forecast drought comes.
Major players in the primary sector are mobilising ahead of predictions that the country is about to be hit by potentially one of the country's worst droughts. Peter Burke reports...
AgFirst consultant Lochie MacGillivray, based in Hawke's Bay, is spending a lot of his time looking at mechanisms farmers along the East Coast can use to manage a drought.
MacGillivray says some of the budgets he's seen have a 'lot of red ink'.
"This is because of lower commodity prices, on top of the cost of repairing damage on their farms caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and subsequent rain events."
He adds that there are massive problems in northern Hawke's Bay with infrastructure damage, some of which has been repaired, but in other cases not. MacGillivray says the temporary repairs will need to be fixed permanently at some stage.
"The hills are still moving, making it impossible to repair fences, which is leading to large mobs of sheep instead of the normal smaller ones," he told Rural News. "The other problem, which would normally be good news, is that the lambing percentage on many farms is very good with lots of triplets and survivability is high."
MacGillivray says at the moment, stock are probably not worth as much as they normally would be.
"With low returns and walkin into a windy, dry period it's going to get tough," he warns.
 |
|---|
|
Lochie MacGillivray and the team at AgFirst are looking at getting plans in place early to deal with the drought when it arrives. |
"The biggest issue is the added stress that this will put on farmers. They have come out of a horrible wet winter and are having a bit of reprieve, but it's drier under now and changing very quickly - so no wonder the financials are poor."
MacGillivray and the team at AgFirst are looking at getting plans in place early to deal with the drought when it arrives.
He's experienced these in the past and says farmers who plan well in advance and effectively micro-manage the plan cope well with the drought.
He adds that one farming couple set up a whiteboard and put all the decisions they had to make on this and set trigger points when these needed to be made.
"They had gazillions of decisions and in the end, it wasn't so much the big ones that mattered, but the smaller ones which added up to the big ones," MacGillivray told Rural News.
"Another farmer I know also had a whiteboard up and every day at lunchtime he updated it, and he came through the drought better than most."
MacGillivray says farmers should look for support and get outsiders in to help review their plans.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
The 'atmospheric river' of rain that swept down the country last week almost completely avoided one of the worst drought-affected regions in the country – coastal Taranaki.
Much-needed rain finally arrived in Northland, giving many farmers breathing space to get themselves back on track for next season.
The drought in western parts of the North Island is reaching crisis point with many farmers from Northland to Taranaki having to truck in water and feed for their stock at great expense.
A leading farm consultant says it's likely the dairy season in the Waikato will come to a premature end because of the drought.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.
