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.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
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