Irrigation

Irrigation is a cause of contention throughout the country.

Many groups have been dismayed by the cavalier attitude of farmers and administrators to the continued damage to our environment and the threat to our soil and groundwater.

The new Government has signalled that it intends to clean up our rivers, lakes, and inshore coastal areas. In a prearranged agreement with the Greens it has withheld financial support to the Hurunui, Flaxbourne and Hunter Downs irrigation projects. This is a tragedy for local farmers.

There are two sides to the argument. Farmers benefit from having irrigation, but on the other hand the nation needs to protect its water and environment for its future security.

In the 2013 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 60 agricultural scientists were brought together from around the world to formulate a farming strategy to best meet climate change and protect the environment.

Overwhelmingly they recommended that industrial chemical-based farming methods should be put aside and new powerful organic-based techniques be employed as the optimum methods of farming to meet future world needs. This UN report was not addressed by the then National government or by our local media.

More recently the Guardian has reported on the critical degrading of European and British soil fertility due to chemical farming methods. The same degrading of soil and environment is occurring here, especially in Canterbury.

Irrigation New Zealand and Federated Farmers only have themselves to blame. If they would place the future needs of the nation as a priority, along with the protection of our environment, then the Government and the public would cooperate with farmers to make the necessary changes.

To face climate change and climate damage we all need to work together. Terry Huggins Geraldine