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Ivan Knauf: What is required for agriculture to move up the value chain?
What is required for agriculture to move up the value chain?
By Ivan Knauf, Hawke’s Bay Dairy Farmer and IrrigationNZ Board Member.
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It is estimated that 2,000 hectares of pasture will be converted to intensive horticulture every year for the next ten years. This has certainly been occurring in Hawke’s Bay with pasture land being converted to apple orchards and vineyards. New Zealand currently has approximately 100,000 hectares planted in these crops.
High value horticultural products include crops like kiwifruit, avocados, apples, cherries, wine and vegetable crops to name a few. Product volumes required are demand driven and oversupply has devastated some of these industries in the past. These crops will require some of our best agricultural land, and have specific requirements, there is a limited supply of suitable land.
These crops have very specific soil, climate, sunshine hour requirements so not all land is equal. Some regions are more prone to drought, hail, frosts, snow or heavy rain which increases the risk of damage to crops. Canopy structures can protect crops from the elements but add to development costs and shelter trees take time to grow.
One frost can wipe a whole seasons crop out in one night, frost protection requires high volumes of water therefore generally needs to be sourced from storage. Hail can damage fruit leading to total loss or down grades. Dry weather can either reduce yields or reduced size down grades or kill the plant that has taken years to grow. The per hectare development costs for these high value crops are eye watering and it takes three to five years to reach full production and receive economic returns. They may not need a lot of irrigation water but their overheads mean they cannot afford to have crop failures or product downgrades due to lack of water. Though average rainfall may seem reasonable in these regions water availability is crucial.
Some of our highest value horticultural land is being subdivided into housing forcing these crops into new and sometimes less suitable regions increasing the risk for growers.
Urban drinking water demand is increasing rapidly and has priority over irrigation water, so crop irrigation water will come under increasing threat in some regions.
Isn’t it time we starting planning and developing storage for both sectors to accommodate expected growth rather than fighting over a diminishing resource?
With urban growth comes an increased volume of storm water which currently is just dumped into our rivers and estuaries with little or no treatment. This needs to change with many beaches closed in our major cities throughout summer due to the poor water quality of storm water runoff with contamination of inshore shellfish beds, putting food gathering at risk and recreational areas unusable. Storm water quality emanating from industrial areas in our cities is appalling and has gone under the environmental radar for too long, this needs to change. Once treated sufficiently this water could be stored and used for irrigation water or recycled as drinking water. Some would say why use possibly contaminated water for irrigating valuable crops. If the water quality is not suitable for our highest value crops or for drinking water, why is it acceptable to put that water into our marine environment?
Our consumers and descendants will be the judges of how well we have done. Admittedly not all land requiring irrigation is located near metropolitan areas but where it is, let’s get smart.
If we as a nation want to climb the value ladder for agricultural goods we need to: • Strategically plan what soils need protection from inappropriate land use like housing, roads and container parks, • integrate irrigation water, storm water, sewage and drinking water into an overall strategic plan, • provide the capital to make it happen.
The current lack of foresight and planning is astounding and will affect whether we climb the value chain or not.
In New Zealand we seem to do the development first and then plan and build the infrastructure to service that development later, maybe it is time to change our approach.
Water use data charges What you need to know
If you have a current consent to take water in Canterbury, you’ll have received a letter from us informing you of upcoming charges for water use. This is an annual fixed fee of $230 charged to each consent to take water over five litres per second, and covers the previous water season from July to June. Every water take consent that is required to submit data is subject to this charge.
Keeping an eye on our water resources
Canterbury’s alpine braided rivers carry billions of litres of water from the Southern Alps to the sea, recharging underground aquifers along the way. This water has important value as an amenity for recreational, economic and cultural use, so we need to be careful how we manage the water in our rivers and below our ground. With wide plains and proximity to fresh water sources, it’s unsurprising that almost two-thirds of the country’s irrigated land is in Canterbury, and ensuring that our water resources are sustainably managed comes at a cost.
What’s expected of us
From 2016, the Ministry for the Environment required all consents that take more than five litres of water per second to have an independently verified water meter installed, which provides an accurate record of water use to the regional council. More recent regulations that took effect in September 2020 mean that over the next six years, if you have a consent to take more than five litres a second, you will need to ensure you have a water meter that is capable of measuring water use every 15 minutes, and this data will need to be sent to us.
What does the charge pay for?
Our staff receive, process and store telemetry data from thousands of water use consents across the region – from Kaikoura down to the Waitaki River. This information needs to be verified, processed, stored, and assessed for compliance. The water use data charge represents what carrying out this work costs us. Over the past few years, these costs have been absorbed through general rates. By charging directly, we’re moving to a user-pays model of water charges, which allows us to focus on ensuring water users comply with their consents. If you’re a consent holder with a good history of compliance, then you may become eligible for a reduction in compliance monitoring, resulting in significantly reduced monitoring charges.
We’re here to help
Invoices for the July 2019-June 2020 year will be sent between March and June 2021.
The Water Use Charges page on our website ecan.govt.nz/water-use-charges has detailed information surrounding this charge, and you can talk to your local land management advisor or call us on 0800 324 636 for more information.
