It's officially a drought

Hawke's Bay and Waikato were officially declared in drought today. Soon it will be the entire North Island.

http://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/drought-zones-extend-across-north-island-map

This means that farmers in drought regions may qualify for support from the government.

I am not too sure about the industrial farmers with their massive dairy farms. These farms are based on assumptions of continual grass growth and stocked accordingly. They never plan for the poor years. Why support them?

ON the other side of the world this could be good news with a shortage of NZ milk in the marketplace. The milk market should improve in Europe.

changes in Central Hawke's Bay

I went for a 15km walk at the weekend through bush and high-country farmland. The walk was one of three organised over the weekend by the Waipukurau Rotary Club under the name 'Sea Sky Bush'. They use the walks to promote Central Hawke's Bay and encourage more visitors to the area.

Check them out on: http://www.seaskybush.co.nz/

My walk passed over the area that is proposed to be covered by the new Ruataniwha Dam that is proposed to irrigate Central Hawke's Bay in summer. The cost of building is likely to be in excess of NZ$200M.
Check it out on: http://www.hbrc.govt.nz/Hawkes-Bay/regional_development/hbric/Pages/rws.aspx

This photo is taken where the dam wall is to be sited. The wall will run 500m across this valley. All the light-coloured land to the right will be under water.

About 370 hectares of current farmland will be lost to store 90 million cubic metres of water. The valley behind this tall tree will not be seen again.

 

We had a presentation from the regional council and local landowners who will be impacted by the dam. All the locals see the benefits but the rest of us see the costs and the likelihood of more industrial dairy farms coming to the area with accompanying pollution.

 

As you can see the area is suffering like the rest of Hawke's Bay with no significant rainfall since October. They usually have rain here at least once a week even in summertime.

 

This is one of the local farmers showing the likely high water mark for the lake at the top of the valley.

 



As we walked the valley we could see the likely water level marked on both sides.

Plenty to think about. Huge change to the area. Much more benefit than a golf course!

I was wondering about the new golf course

New Zealand has the highest number of golf courses per head of population for any country in the world.

Ireland is in second place.

Northern Ireland on its own has the highest number of golf courses per head of population in the European Union.

New Zealand has much better weather than Ireland. New Zealand is not developing any new luxury golf courses. They do not make a profit.

Northern Ireland has some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world.

Why does Northern Ireland need a luxury golf course on the Causeway Coast?

Surely it would be much better to market the existing courses?