Silt Recovery Taskforce wins national award
Hawke’s Bay’s Silt Recovery Taskforce has received the Collaboration Excellence Award at the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Awards.
 This month's decision by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council confirming its intention to invest in the Ruataniwha water storage scheme is a good one.
		  	
		  
		  		  
		  This month's decision by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council confirming its intention to invest in the Ruataniwha water storage scheme is a good one.
		  
		  
		  
	  This month's decision by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council (HBRC) confirming its intention to invest in the Ruataniwha water storage scheme is a good one.
HBRC's plan to invest $80 million follows the signing of water user agreements by at least 190 farmers who support the scheme.
As Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay provincial president Will Foley says: "The Ruataniwha Plains are highly vulnerable to drought and this dam will ensure a reliable water source to preserve the family farming traditions in the region."
Water storage and irrigation are the future for sustainable and prosperous agriculture in New Zealand – particularly in drought-prone regions like Hawke's Bay. And there are economic and environmental benefits for the wider community. Irrigation supported by water storage will allow growers, farmers and the whole region to ride out global market ups and downs and climatic stresses like droughts.
Despite what the doomsayers and supposed environmental lobbies claim, irrigation schemes benefit more than just irrigators; they provide economic certainty for communities and bolster their environments. Examples of this are dotted throughout the country. It simply makes good economic and community sense for local government to invest in irrigation schemes.
In its recent submission on the next steps in fresh water management, Irrigation NZ correctly pointed out this fact as follows:
'An irrigator's business is founded on certainty. This includes access to a reliable water supply for irrigation and the ability to dynamically farm their land. It is this certainty that enables investment and continuous improvement in resource use efficiency and thus good environmental performance. Without certainty they and the considerable flow-on benefits to the regional economy are severely impacted. The national economy would also be affected, given NZ has predominantly an agricultural export based economy."
IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis says the decision sets the Hawke's Bay community up for a positive future because access to reliable water will be a game changer for the region.
The last word goes to Will Foley: "The decision is a positive step towards the region receiving true tangible benefits while maintaining the community's environmental values. It's been a long time in the making, but there's a real sense of excitement about how positive this is for the region."
Acclaimed fruit grower Dean Astill never imagined he would have achieved so much in the years since being named the first Young Horticulturist of the Year, 20 years ago.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.

OPINION: The Greens have taken the high moral ground on the Palestine issue and been leading political agitators in related…
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact…