Canterbury veggie grower aiming to be a leader not a follower
"Why follow when you can lead?" is the motto of Canterbury veggie grower Lance Roper.
The small amount of rain that fell over the Christmas-New Year period has made very little difference to river flows in the Canterbury area, according to Environment Canterbury.
Surface water science manager Tim Davies, says that river flows around the region remain low, with continued dry weather looking set to continue.
"Alpine rivers have been higher from earlier nor-west rain but they are now starting to drop away," he says.
"River flows from Ashburton State Highway 1 south to the Waihao River are low with most rivers on restriction. Flows have been dropping over the past week but with no significant rainfall forecast these rivers may well start to drop into 'Very low' conditions."
Water restrictions are in effect in South Canterbury with the Mackenzie District Council placing restrictions on residents in Twizel and Fairlie Kimbell. Restrictions are also in place for the Timaru District Council area.
A Water Shortage Direction for the Opihi River and its tributaries – which includes the Opuha River and Lake Opuha – expired on 30 December 2014. This means the flow rate for the Opihi River at Saleyards Bridge can now be reduced to 3500 litres per second as per the Opihi River Regional Plan, but it is currently flowing at 5500 litres per second.
Environment Canterbury is advising irrigators to refer to their restrictions web page to make sure they are not breaching their consents and taking their water allocations either above the allowable amount or when a surface water body is on partial or full restriction.
For current river flow information go to www.ecan.govt.nz/services/online-services/monitoring/river-flows/Pages/River-flows-south.aspx
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
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Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.
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