Irrigation NZ seeks new CEO
Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Vanessa Winning is stepping down after four years in the role.
IrrigationNZ has submitted feedback on the Water Services Bill this week to seek protection of small drinking water users in rural areas.
“We wholeheartedly agree with the intent of the three waters reform, and absolutely want to ensure rural communities have access to clean drinking water and not have another Hastings issue happen again, but there are a number of small individual farm owners and water users, which are being unintentionally captured by the Bill” says IrrigationNZ chief executive Vanessa Winning.
She says the submission explains, through case studies, how an alternative pathway can be sought for farmers and water users that still delivers on the intent of the Government’s bill.
“Around 2,600 of our irrigators are inadvertently deemed suppliers of drinking water. Water sampling set out in the Bill would collectively cost them about $16 million.”
Winning says that figure is likely an underestimation if dryland farming and other uses are taken into account.
“Some of the reasons they are inadvertently captured by this bill because, due to historic arrangements or very fast civic development, there is no water supply in place on their farms or in that area; in many cases they provide for urban supply or to a regional council, or irrigation distribution systems like pipes or channels are used to deliver water which in turn becomes a drinking water supply,” she says.
Winning adds that IrrigationNZ is also concerned about the implementation of the bill, because regional councils are already stretched trying to roll out new water regulations.
“IrrigationNZ appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback on this important bill.
“As the provisions of the bill are debated and then finalised, we are hopeful that decision-makers remember these small rural drinking water suppliers and support organisations/farms that are providing a service that is not currently met by council supply.”
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.