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Farming
www.guardianonline.co.nz
South Canty’s Don McFarlane As a farmer you are either looking forward or going back, according to Don McFarlane. There is no status quo and that attitude is, in part, why the South Canterbury leader was recently recognised in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. Awarded the MNZM (member of the order) for services to agriculture, Mr McFarlane has long been ahead of his time and at the forefront of farmer leadership in New Zealand. Travel at a critical time in his life, a Nuffield scholarship and an understanding of how vital water was to the dry South Canterbury climate saw him among the first to install irrigation on his dryland farm in 1975. “I came to the conclusion that water was going to be as important as oil as far as progressing in the world. If you are thinking food you are thinking water because they are inexplicably linked.” Considered a risky venture, but with the backing of wellknown farm consultant Bob Engelbrecht, Mr McFarlane was fortuitous to drill and
Nadine Porter
RURAL EDITOR
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find shallow water which enabled him to install side roll irrigation. Back then it cost $50,000 to $60,000 for a well, mainline and “a couple of side rolls” – a significant investment when considering the real prospect of failure. Water, its environmental impact and delivery to rural areas have been one of Mr McFarlane’s many passions, particularly following on from the devastating and challenging farming era of the late 80s and 90s. “It was an era of very high interest rates, excess unserviceable debt and quite difficult drought years on top of that.” The combination of all those
Above – Don McFarlane says as a farmer you are either looking forward or going back – there is no status quo. Right – The Opuha Dam project was immensely satisfying for Don McFarlane.
factors made it tricky for most and Mr McFarlane worked closely within Federated Farmers’ leadership to develop policies to enable farmers to
cope. Having irrigation on his own farm during the downturn and ensuing drought, Mr McFarlane understood just how fortunate he had been in
removing the climatic variables from his production. That knowledge led to active leadership in bringing water to South Canterbury farmers.