Wednesday, September 15, 2021 Rural Wairarapa Midweek
COUNTRY LIVESTOCK
Water resilience is drying up The Wakamoekau Community Water Storage Scheme was cancelled this month, and the rural community is anxious about the future of Wairarapa’s water. Wairarapa Federated Farmers president David Hayes said water storage was critical to the future of our towns and rural hinterland, to employment, production and the health of our rivers and wider environment. He said the scheme had been seen as a foundation block of the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy. “It’s highly concerning we have stumbled at the first step,” Hayes said. “I grew up in South Australia – the driest state on the driest continent. I’ve seen how severe water shortages undercut so many aspects of life. “Wairarapa must not underestimate the shock that climate changeaccelerated lack of water will mean to our Wairarapa communities and to the environment. It is time to act.” Hayes said the resilience strategy, that was launched earlier this year and led by Dame Margaret Bazley was clear that it needed to be fully implemented if we are to address the impacts of climate change. “We cannot pick and choose.” He said storage was the only practical initiative for resilience going forward. Hayes said the only part of the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy that was being actively worked on was the Wakamoekau scheme.
Report for Week Ending 10/09/21, by Chris Hicks. An aerial view of the proposed dam site. PHOTOS/FILE
Federated Farmers president David Hayes.
Masterton farmer Mike Butterick.
“With that halted, we have nothing on the table, but we still have a solid set of recommendations in the strategy that now need to be properly resourced and managed.” Masterton farmer Mike Butterick said the region was facing increasingly more extreme weather, often in the form of reduced rainfall. He said that would make food production much harder and more unreliable in the future. Butterick said modelling from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment [PCE] showed that a one degree Celsius increase in temperature would result in the East Coast of both the North and South islands being in extreme moisture stress for up to six months. “This is predicted to be around 2030-2040. That will come around very quickly, and we now run the very real risk of being caught out,” Butterick said. Niwa has also predicted Wairarapa to become hotter and drier as the climate changes. Butterick said the region had an opportunity to plan for a volatile future, but the bureaucratic regulatory process stood in the way as a major impediment. “Yes, we can all put tanks in, and yes, we need to fix our water
infrastructure, but the benefits of doing so will pale in comparison to a future focused large water storage scheme that captures water in times of excess.” He said the “bureaucratic jumble” that had been created need to be fixed urgently, “if we are ever going to plan ahead for future generations, to enable successful businesses, both industrial and agricultural and domestic requirements to be met”. Butterick said the time to deliver on water security was now. “Future generations will not thank us for doing nothing, for to do nothing is to steal their future.” Hayes said the environmental planning framework was complex and changing rapidly. He said the decision by Wairarapa Water Ltd to close its project underlined the fact that planning framework was not yet fit for purpose. “It is creating barriers that are preventing sound management of the most important issue facing our rural and urban communities. “We can all continue to be more efficient with water use but that’s not going to be enough for the future of towns and farms.” Hayes said it was likely that farmland would be
RAM AUCTION
THURSDAY 28 OCT 2021 | 2:30PM
seen as more valuable subdivided for housing and precious production space would shrink. “Over time much of the region will evolve into a suburb of Wellington, with ongoing water supply challenges and impacts for our rivers and catchments. What we value about the region we call home will be lost.” Hayes said Federated Farmers wanted to see the consequences of climate change on our rivers and communities properly mitigated through implementing a full range of practical initiatives, including storage. He said it needed strong leadership, sound governance, and must be well resourced.
Feeder Calves:
Simmental bulls 1 at $200, Red poll bulls 2 at $100, 4 at $145, 1 at $130, Hereford X bulls 3 at $90, 1 at $50. Friesian bulls 5 at $60, 4 at $50, 2 at $50, Hereford x heifers 2 at $55, 3 at $45, 4 at $55, 8 at $40, Red Poll heifers 3 at $40, Speckle Park 1 at $65. Cattle: Hereford heifer yearling 2 at $670, 2 at $530, 1 at $620. Angus steer yearling 3 at $665.
RAMS AVAILABLE (VIEWING FROM 1PM)
AT MASTERTON A&P SHOWGROUNDS
FACILITATED BY PGG WRIGHTSON
Sheep: Ewes 7 at $122, 3 at $126. Wethers 1 at $50, 4 at $180, 3 at $145, 1 at $172. Rams 1 at $80, 3 at $90. Lambs 2 at $160, 2 at $197, 10 at $186. Orphan lambs 4 at $20.
Rural
Grace Prior
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• 40 Beltex/Suftex • 40 ¼ Beltex/Suftex Will be sold in pairs by Auction
Beltex and Beltex Suffolk ram sires will be there for viewing. For more information contact: George Williams, 063726671, 0277267467 Andrew Jennings (ELVIS), 0275946820 Guy Williams 0212409821 JOIN US FOR A BBQ FOLLOWING THE AUCTION
