An Ashburton Guardian Feature

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2012 in retrospect – one councillors viewpointAs I look back on 2012 and its happenings, I’m left with a mixed sense of disappointment and satisfaction.

My disappointment is mostly based on decisions made at national level as they relate to providing positive signals to improve conditions in New Zealand for all its citizens.

Maybe it’s related to our MMP style of governance or our three yearly electoral cycle, but there seems to be a distinct lack of decisiveness in decision making.

The ongoing influence of global depression especially in the major EEC economy and the growth slow-down in many of our major Asian trading partners is without doubt hamstringing our export economy. These are factors over which we have little control.

However we need to remember that we are one of the most efficient food producing nations in the world. Surely our role is to maximise that advantage.

Without doubt the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-2011 is still manifesting itself at every level from personal trauma to national significance.

My own opinion is that the knee-jerk reaction of government to the building code regulations and the time-frame given to strengthen existing buildings has the

capacity to bankrupt the country, unless amended.

Certainly some changes needed to be made and logically new rules for new buildings were essential, however a 106 year event needs to kept in perspective.

If the catastrophic death toll from the CTV building collapse is taken away, (clearly shown to be a defective design), the total deaths from earthquakes in New Zealand in the last 50 years equates to the three-monthly road toll.

Maybe time to re-think.

Again on a national scale the watering down of the Sale of Liquor Act Amendment Bill is disappointing.

Quite obviously the income stream from duty on alcohol is one the Government can’t afford to lose. Why else with the obvious impact of binge drinking on police and public safety, property damage, hospitalisation costs, road carnage and workplace absenteeism, would they be so spineless?

I see no place for leniency by police, judiciary or government in this area.

The decline in acceptable standards of personal behaviour must be halted if New Zealand is to remain a country of choice in which to live.

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Any feedback is welcome, any comments about our magazine, letters or story suggestions.

Please direct any correspondence to: Linda Clarke, on 307-7971 email: linda.c@theguardian.co.nz or write to PO Box 77, Ashburton.

Advertising: Phone 307-7974 Email: desme.d@theguardian.co.nz Publication date: January 15, 2013

Next issue: February 5, 2013

An advertising feature for the Ashburton Guardian. Any opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Guardian Farming or the Ashburton Guardian.

GUARDIAN FARMING

Contributed by John Leadley

2012 in retrospect – one councillors viewpointAt a district level I find a greater degree of satisfaction and see many signs highlighting continued progress. Ashburton District has continued its strong pattern of growth completely defying Statistics Department predictions and surpassing 32,000 population during the year.Driven as always by continuing growth in production from the rural sector (particularly dairying), increasing school rolls, and an unemployment level half the national average, we can confidently predict this scenario to continue.It’s pleasing to see the voluntary improvement in water use efficiency with scheme piping and in-line power generation expanding. My personal hope is still to achieve substantial foothill storage with capacity for far greater generation rather than increasing “on farm” plains storage in ponds with subsequent loss of productive land. No energy source is cheaper than gravity!This I’m certain can be achieved without environmental degradation.One lingering regret is the district’s inability to convince Government funding sources of the need to maintain and upgrade the district’s rural road network to a level compatible with other parts of New Zealand. The current formula that penalises the vital productive export sector is seriously flawed.

Declining subsidy rates are a cruel penalty for increased farm productivity.The impact of the earthquakes is slowly manifesting itself on the Ashburton skyline and the loss of heritage buildings is disappointing.Council will be working collaboratively with all building owners to maximise the positive aspects of a revitalised Central Business District. Care will be needed however to ensure tenant affordability.2012 has been a positive year for Ashburton and it was refreshing to read the Guardian headline of Boxing Day “Residents give council a good report card” in reference to the National Research Bureau report.Maybe a belated balance to some very negative reporting over the year.Building consents issued during the year are continuing to increase, apparent not only on dairy conversion properties but in all sectors with residential, industrial and commercial all showing growth.The sales uptake in new subdivisions is very encouraging with strong activity in Lake Hood, Braebrook and Lochlea very apparent. Retirement village expansion on at least three sites is further evidence of strong demand in that sector and again likely to increase population.With work under-way on the new heritage

centre for the first time in its history Ashburton will have a purpose built facility to house its museum collection, art gallery, archives and genealogical records. I see this, as future proofing our past.With plans almost finalised, resource consent applied for, and initial site work under-way, the realisation of a long held dream for a new pool/stadium is coming to fruition. On completion the EA Networks Stadium will fill the only major void in the District’s recreation facilities for generations to come. The district’s vote of confidence in the hard working stadium trust is best explained by the $4.4 million already pledged prior to the public fundraising launch in March 2013. I look forward in eager anticipation to completion of this $32 million project.Over its 140-year history Ashburton has been well served by its elected governance officials.The town layout, wonderful domain and public spaces all evidence of planning foresight.I make no apologies for personally promoting the need to designate land now to future proof local accessibility for residents by way of a second bridge in 12-15 year’s time. This is what I see as simple commonsense decision making.While understanding the views of the very few citizens who will be personally

impacted if the designation is achieved, government legislation assures appropriate compensation. To those outside the land required it is as well to remember that roads are made to carry traffic. Yes about 400 residents from across the district submitted written feedback in opposition. Twenty thousand other adult residents with access to the same information remained silent!To those that say council doesn’t listen, I would remind them that in excess of 500 changes were made as a result of submissions to the proposed District Plan before adoption. This remains open to appeal.In similar vein a proposal to close the Victoria/Wills Street intersection was reversed after submission.That is the way democracy should work – and I like it!It’s been a busy and challenging year as a councillor, but with hindsight rewarding.A new communications strategy, organisational restructures and the new Local Government Act will inevitably bring further challenges in 2013.Mayor and councillors are elected to govern.Their future is in the hands of the public.Such is democracy.

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ATVs - be aware of the dangers

Kevin Richards has farming in his blood; he has never wanted to do anything else. But in 1989 Kevin’s ATV rolled over, paralysing him from the waist down. The doctors told him he would never walk again, let alone farm.

The day it happened Kevin was doing a lambing beat on his ATV. He was looking for a lost lamb and shot up a fairly steep slope. Kevin was concentrating on finding the lamb when he hit a sheep rut on the hillside. He somersaulted and landed heavily on his tailbone. He knew immediately that something serious was wrong.

Kevin spent months in the Otara spinal unit rehabilitating. He was determined to walk on callipers and crutches, which meant he could get out of his wheelchair. After months of hard work he was finally able to stand and is one of only a handful of paraplegics in New Zealand who can get on their feet.

Kevin didn’t stop there though. His brother Craig modified a tractor with a special hoist so Kevin could get on and off, allowing him to do farm jobs such as feeding out. Kevin also taught himself things like moving an electric fence while sitting on a farm bike, so with the help of his dog he can move stock. He has also recently started leasing the 50 acre farm next door on which 165 cows are farmed with the help of his farm manager.

Kevin says he owes a lot of his success to the love and support of his family and friends, especially his wife Shona and their three children.

Kevin has never blamed anyone else for what happened to him, but he does wonder if things would have turned out differently if he had been made more aware of the limitations of an ATV.

Like so many others born onto farms, he was brought up with farm vehicles. They were nothing special, just a tool to get the jobs done. There was no great respect for them because there were so many other jobs to focus on.

Kevin believes the tide is now turning on safety. He certainly considers there to be a greater knowledge about safety, and communities are willing to learn from each other and share their experiences. And that’s exactly what Kevin is doing, sharing his experiences, encouraging people to stop and think about what they’re doing, and to take extra care when they know there is risk.

The Department of Labour routinely makes visits to farms to make sure quad bikes are being ridden safety. Officers enforce key safety messages, using education and warnings or fines.

The harm reduction campaign involves four key messages:

• Always wear a helmet.• Ensure riders are trained and experienced enough to do the job.• Never let a child ride an adult quad bike.• Choose the right vehicle for the job.

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Reports that farm revenue is not matching increases to input costs mean farmers need to be focused on maximising production.

Altum Animal Nutrition manager Jackie Aveling says warmer temperatures and higher humidity are a sign that summer is finally here, but they also signal the potential for facial eczema.

“Dairy and beef cattle, sheep, deer and goats are all susceptible. For dairy farmers in particular, facial eczema can put a real brake on production when they are aiming to make the most of reasonable growing conditions at a time when peak production can taper off,” says Mrs Aveling.

Facial eczema damages the liver and causes inflammation of the bile ducts and an accumulation of certain compounds resulting in sensitivity to sunlight.

Sub-clinical facial eczema resulting from exposure to the toxin sporadesmin could result in an immediate drop in milk production even before physical signs appear.

“It’s possible that farmers will not be aware of the full extent of a facial eczema problem until it’s too late. If as little as 3% of the herd show clinical signs of facial eczema, then subclinical cases can affect up to 70% of the herd.

“This can eat into dairy profits with a drop in production in affected animals by up to 50%, and with a fluctuating returns for commodities, farmers want to ensure every cent hits the bank.”

Monitoring spore counts through summer and autumn

and having an early plan of attack for facial eczema in place will ensure the hard work being put into maintaining a healthy herd pays off in sustained production.

Spore counts increase where grass temperatures are above 12 degrees for three consecutive nights and can vary from farm to farm and even between paddocks.

“Farmers also need to take into account the cumulative effect of spore consumption. A count of 60,000 is considered high risk, but stock can still be affected with cumulative effects at lower counts.”

Zinc treatment during the season from late December to May is recommended. The challenge is that the common practice of dosing troughs with zinc sulphate doesn’t guarantee the desired result, as zinc tastes bitter and can reduce water intake.

The solution is to improve the taste, which Altum has done with Zincmax+ which is a combination facial eczema treatment with Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) registration.  Its peppermint taste makes it palatable and it includes organic copper. The taste helps ensure herds keep up their water consumption, which is important given their needs can exceed 100 litres at this time of year.

The organic copper helps offset zinc’s antagonistic effect which reduces the absorption of this important trace element. Copper is important for production, immune response and also cycling ahead of breeding. Low copper levels can also affect growth and fertility in heifers.

Prevention best protection for facial eczema risk

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While there are still some cooler spells, finally Christmas and the New Year has brought fine-sunny-hot (even)-windy weather to finish the growing season. Let’s hope it lasts through the harvest.

2012 left us behind eight days ago and so hopefully the cool often cold and frequently wet weather. Since Christmas we have been blessed with much hotter and drier weather. Given we have had the odd helpful rainfall – like 25 to 40mm on the second day of the New Year and the week before on Boxing Day. These rainfalls have been a pleasant interlude and taken the pressure off what could have been a very demanding 2 to 4 weeks of the growing season. The longest and hottest days following the longest day on December 22 coincided with full leaf area resulting in real pressure on irrigation.

For arable farmers the festive season rainfalls made the final decision for some crops – early perennial ryegrass, autumn barley, kale and rape seed and some process peas needed a last little water. They received the best irrigation – uniform rainfall at a rate the soil could infiltrate

and finished their need for staying on the irrigation schedule.

It has taken most of the growing season for any serious irrigation in autumn and winter sown wheat crops. For Example:

The soil moisture record in Figure 1 demonstrates the easy growing season in 2012. Other than a small 30mm irrigation during the “false” spring in September, irrigation wasn’t required again until December and then not in earnest until mid-late December. There has been so little demand on the crop (in terms of temperature and therefore water demand) that the subsoil moisture has shown very little movement all season. Most of the movement has been upward in response to the rainfall events in October. The wheat crop has been able to grow at its ease on the moisture in the soil depth 0 to 40/50cm.

The daily water use (Actual evapo-transpiration or ET to most) also took until December to reach peaks usually seen back in November (sometimes in October). For the same wheat crop in Figure 1, the daily water use is plotted in Figure 2.

It took until late December, near the end of the growth cycle, for average daily water use to leap the 5mm/day barrier. Most seasons the 5mm/day barrier is broken back in November when the wheat is about to boot or come into ear. Not so this season.

Not such a rosy picture for the pastoral irrigators though. As Figure 3 shows December and early January has been sufficiently demanding that irrigation has started to “struggle” to keep up on this rotational system. While they too enjoyed the low irrigation demand for most of the pre-Christmas growing season, it has been the opposite since.

For arable farmers, irrigation is now a pick choose operation. Pick when you irrigate and only those crops still needing it. No irrigation, well it is all good for the bottom line.

For pasture, irrigators it looks like head down …… up and keep at it. So long as the West Coast is getting washed away you are going to have to sweat it out and try to keep up.

Summer arrives in nick of time

Contributed by Dr Tony Davoren

Figure 1. Soil moisture record for a winter wheat crop on Chertsey silt loam soil in Mid Canterbury.

Figure 2. Daily water use (mm/day) for the winter wheat crop (Figure 1) on Chertsey silt loam soil in Mid Canterbury.

Figure 3. Soil moisture record for pasture on Chertsey silt loam soil in Mid Canterbury.

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Succession planning is about handing over the ownership and control of the business, AND about satisfying the wants and needs of everyone involved. It is a complete process - not an event. It is important the objectives of everybody including family members are canvassed, with some compromise achieved where necessary. Succession Planning is a change process ensuring personal and business needs are met and ownership transition occurs.

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Succession planningA question that a lot of new farmers

ask is “what accounting package do you recommend?” At Falloons our preference is Cashmanger Rural Online – it is simple to use and has pre-loaded farming codes for different types of farming entities, making the initial set up quick and easy. The annual reports are easy to use and the budgeting/cashflow reports are useful and easy to maintain. The online version with its direct feeds from the banks and most co-operatives make inputting data easy. It also manages quantities well.

Falloons also have a growing number of clients using Xero, especially lower order sharemilkers and contractors. Xero is a great program that has lots of reports and is better suited to those farmers who wish to stay on top of their finances continuously. It does not currently support quantities though and does not have the pre-set farming codes that Cashmanager does, thus requiring a little more help to set up correctly.

Over the years Falloons have identified the areas that most farmers have difficulty with and focus on those areas during the first few meetings. This helps them supply us with a cashbook that is as accurate as possible. This means it takes us less time to complete their accounts and costs them less. These areas are:

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Time spent understanding these issues at the start will save you money and issues with the IRD.

Accounting for farming enterprises

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Kazakh cowboys tour US, get cattle-tending tips MANDAN, North Dakota (AP) — Mananbai Sadykov cuffed his stiff blue jeans over intricately stitched cowboy boots and treads mindfully though minefields of cattle manure at the Helbling Hereford Ranch in central North Dakota.

Sadykov, 48, is no stranger to cows, having worked with livestock most of his life in Kazakhstan. But he tried to keep his new duds — a gift from some North Dakota ranchers — dung-free. Western wear is rare in the former Soviet republic. And, until recently, so were cows.

About 15 Kazakh cattlemen, Sadykov included, visited North Dakota ranches in November to inspect the state’s beef herd and get a hands-on tutorial in tending cattle from veteran cowboys.

“It’s not splitting atoms growing cows. But it is hard work,” said Mark Archibald, who ranches near Hettinger in southwest North Dakota and hosted a contingent of the Kazakhs. “They haven’t had the background to build upon so we’re showing them our way of doing things.”

AP Photo/JAMes MAcPheRsoN

Mananbai Sadykov looks over cattle on the Helbling Hereford Ranch near Mandan, North Dakota. Sadykov was one of about 15 Kazakh cattlemen who visited North Dakota ranches in November to inspect the state’s beef herd, while getting a hands-on tutorial in tending cattle from veteran cowboys.

Contributed by JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press

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Kazakh cowboys tour US, get cattle-tending tips Kazakhstan’s beef herd was butchered and all but sold off following the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Cattle numbers dropped from about 35 million to about 2 million. To help rebuild that industry, more than 5000 Hereford and Angus cattle bred to withstand North Dakota’s notoriously nasty winters have been sent since 2010 via jumbo jets from Fargo to Kazakhstan, and a shipment of 3000 more is planned before year’s end.

Sadykov has been overseeing several hundred of the relocated ruminants in Kazakhstan, whose climate and landscape are similar to North Dakota’s.

“Very good, very tough cows,” Sadykov said through an interpreter, while eyeing dozens of hardy Herefords with their thick, hairy coats. “Very good in cold.”

North Dakota’s cows also typically have more marbling and fatty tissue, which gives the state an advantage in cattle sales, agriculture officials said.

“There are some marketing opportunities there,” said Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, “It’s going to take a long time for them to build up their inventory.”

Dean Gorder, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Office, said the state has had a strong trade relationship with Kazakhstan and also exports farm machinery.

Gorder and Goehring both have made several visits to Kazakhstan, a million-square-mile landmass that stretches from central Asia to eastern Europe. The largely Muslim country’s appetite for beef also is big, Goehring said.

“It’s a country that consumes large amounts of meat,” he said. “I watch those guys eat and I get a bellyache.”

Daulet Chunkunov, a Kazakh trade representative, said the oil-rich nation currently buys the bulk of its processed beef from Europe and Australia but is prepared to spend billions building up

its own cattle industry, which could take decades. The Kazakh government paid for the cattlemen’s trip to North Dakota.

“We have oil money, a strong domestic market, support of the government and a labour force,” Chunkunov said.

Cattle ranching also appeals to many young people in Kazakhstan, Chunkunov said. Several Kazakh cattlemen in their 20s were among those touring North Dakota ranches, getting tips on everything from bovine nutrition and branding to vaccinations and bull castrations.

“I like being a cowboy,” said Viktor Kapinus, a tall, wiry 21-year-old who recently started working at a rural ranch well outside of his hometown of Astana in central Kazakhstan.

Kapinus, already comfortable around cows, fearlessly approached and petted a more than 900kg Hereford bull grazing on hay, while one of his less-bold sidekicks snapped pictures.

Fred Helbling, who owns the ranch with his brothers, Wayne and Jim, said the Kazakhs may not dress like typical North Dakota cowboys but many are master horsemen who have taken quickly to cows.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover,” said Fred Helbling, whose great-grandfather emigrated from Russia and homesteaded the sprawling ranch almost a century ago.

Jim Helbling added, “They do have a lot of passion.”

Dauletgali Zhaitapov, 24, said his family owns hundreds of horses but only recently expanded into cows, many of which have come from North Dakota. Zhaitapov said he recently participated in a big cattle drive in his country, something he’d only seen before in “John Wayne movies.”

“I was like the Marlboro man,” he said.

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Happy New Year to all! Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year. We have now had our third Christmas at the farm. I look back at old photos and realise how much we have done in the time we have been here (two years and two months to be exact). Time has gone so quick.

Well, in November we decided that the sheep (not lambs any more) needed to be shorn and we had to find someone to do this. When you only have two sheep it is a little hard, plus the fact we have no shearing shed to do it in. So Tom had been talking to people and one of our friends said he could do it. Not knowing he had this hidden talent we were delighted.

So plans were made, and the day we chose was an okay day, not hot but not raining. Tom gets the trailer ready and asks me to come down to the paddock to put the sheep on the trailer. This is because they still come to me and I could get them on better than Tom.

Well all went well and with the help of number one son we did it. I decided that in the best interests of the sheep I would take them to our friend; I knew Tom would not get them off the trailer or back on. With the help of oldest daughter, we drive very slowly to town. On the drive the weather started to change to look like rain. Great, all I could think was don’t rain till I get there. That’s exactly what happened. I got them just into the shed and the heavens opened up. All good though so sheep could still be shorn.

Our friend took one look at Saddle and immediately noticed his horns (quite big ones too). He didn’t look too keen on him so decided to do him first. I did say that he had had a ring on his bits but that it was put on wrong and they are still there. Well all went well and wool came off, it was hard work as I

think it should have been done earlier. Saddle had a couple of nicks but nothing to worry about. Our friend did laugh as I was taking photos of the shearing, because I need to have a record of this you know.

Second sheep Rosie went very well and all she wanted to do was get back to her mate, she didn’t like being separated from him at all. My sheep are very close and they do not at any point like to be separated, even at home.

Then came the trip home. The rain was not letting up at all. Guilt come across me as we were loading them back on to trailer. They had had a traumatic trip to the shearer, then being shorn and then the rainy trip home we were about to take. And they had no wool to keep them warm and dry.

I thought my poor sheep may have to find some covers when we got home as they might get sick. I got home and unloaded them into the paddock with the cows. They looked so pathetic to look at, and the cows crowded round like they didn’t know what they were. My heart sunk and went back to the house to tell Tom we needed covers for them. His words I can not print, sorry, but it gives you an idea what he said.

The sheep never got covers and it rained for two days, I never went to check on them as I was worried they would have died. But no, all good and the wool has grown back some to make them look better. Rosie no longer comes over for a pat anymore and Saddle will - I think he is coming for a pat but really it is to knock me over. I am the only one in the family who will go in the paddock with Saddle now as he just attacks and has become very nasty.

Tom wants to make him into lamb chops but I am still against it. Maybe when he takes me out I may change my mind.

No lifestyle block would be complete without animals.Our townie-turned-country girl Barbara can relate.

Sheep shearing trauma

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Riparian management – Managing land sustainably

Contributed by Jon Bray, Freshwater Ecology Research Group, University of Canterbury.

The recent New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society conference held in Dunedin (3-7 December 2012) highlighted the overwhelming evidence for the continued decline in the health of freshwater rivers and lakes within New Zealand. This Society represents over 300 freshwater biologists working in universities, government departments and councils, research institutes and consultancies. Leading on from the conference was a press statement which may be found at http://freshwater.science.org.nz. The gist of this statement is that of a warning. Scientists are becoming increasingly worried about the state of New Zealand’s waterways, where there are continued declines in water quality and waterway health. The survival of native species is also of major concern where more than 70% of New Zealand’s freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction, and a number of these are close to becoming extinct.

New Zealand’s land development has had a profound effect on our rivers, streams and lakes. The science is now showing us that the most pressing concern is agricultural land use impacts. We do however have the tools to lessen the effect, and to rehabilitate these degraded waters. One of these tools is effective riparian or stream side management, employing fencing and riparian plantings. This is considered the

most important first step, where problems begin within the smallest streams before cumulative impacts are noticed downstream. When we think of a fresh waterway we often think of a larger river or lake, but the problems usually start within the smallest waterways, progressively becoming worse as they feed into larger systems. Most importantly it is these small streams, springs and wetlands that are often hotspots of freshwater diversity.

Riparian management is often effective because it results in stock exclusion, reestablishes banks, reduces and often stops faecal bacteria and sediment entering streams. Sediment through bank erosion, and grazing within waterways, is probably the most environmentally degrading of all impacts. Where planting occurs, and a canopy develops, important linkages are restored with the surrounding land, including leaf litter inputs and inputs of larger pieces of wood. With more mature vegetation, over-land flow of sediment often becomes negligible, and plant roots intercept subsurface nitrogen and phosphorus reducing inputs to that stream, and downstream environs. Light levels and thus water temperatures are also reduced. All of these variables are very important for the maintenance of natural instream habitat and ecosystem processes.

Aside from the benefits to the ecosystem, aquatic life, to downstream users, ground water and future users, there are benefits to you and to your stock. Local regional councils have schemes whereby they will give advice, and often financial assistance, for land owners who adopt best practices such as waterway fencing and planting. Ensuring stock are excluded from waterways can also ensure that stock are correctly dosed with minerals and other supplements where these are added to troughs, some dairy operators do this. Moreover, mature riparian margins can also act as shelterbelts, a somewhat disregarded but proved practice, and native planted riparian margins are aesthetically pleasing. Products grown in a healthy environment are also more marketable, which is well understood and utilised on an international market.

Keep New Zealand beautiful was a slogan of old. We take pride in our country, we don’t litter, and we clean up after ourselves. Why should our land use practices be any different? We now know that to slow or reverse this degradation we must adopt practices that minimize impacts. Perhaps then as a nation we may then begin to live up to our ‘clean and green’ image, and ensure this precious resource for future generations.

thinking green 12

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Contributed by Sheryl Stivens

It's easy to think about all the big changes you're going to make in the New Year as the old year comes to an end — but by the end of January, most of us are already finding reasons to skip the gym or break the spending freeze on credit cards, have another piece of chocolate cake or continue being an eco slacker. That's why we've come up with thirteen Eco resolutions for 2013 so easy you'll have no excuse not to keep them — and as they help you save money, cut your carbon footprint, slim your waste size, and improve the quality of the Earth, you'll be glad you did.

1. Avoid buying bottled water. Trade your bottled water habit for an at-home filtering system and you can help make a dent in the 1.5 million barrels of oil used to make plastic water bottles each year; invest in a quality reusable bottle (one made of glass, stainless steel, or BPA free plastic).

2. Dispose of your hazardous waste responsibly. Do you have fluorescent bulbs, batteries, household garden or cleaning chemicals, ink cartridges or paint? Do you have electronic or electrical items to dispose of? All these items and more can be brought to the Ashburton Resource Recovery Park. If in doubt call the Recycling Helpline 0800-627-824.

3. Brew your own Fair trade coffee. Carry your own cup for special occasion take aways. Carrying your own coffee in an insulated travel mug helps you reduce waste from cardboard cups and carrying sleeves — which are thrown away globally at a staggering rate of 58 billion each year. For greener at-home brewing, choose a Fair Trade blend that supports farmers. If buying takeaway coffee bring your own cup to the coffee shop.

4. Remember your reusable shopping bags. With more than 1 million plastic bags ending up in the rubbish every minute, taking reusable bags shopping is one of the easiest

and most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

• Keep reusable bags in the car and put a small note on the dashboard to remind you to bring them shopping with you;

• Ask the kids to remind you to bring your bags as part of their chores.

• Put your bags back in your car

5. cut back on paper towels. If you're grabbing a paper towel for everything from wiping up spills and cleaning your counter to scrubbing the bathroom and keeping your hands clean at dinner, it's time to make a change. Instead, invest in a few cotton or microfibre cloths and some fabric napkins; then drop them in the wash when you run a load of laundry. Using the cloth alternatives. You can help eliminate the 3,000 tons of paper towels that end up landfills every day.

6. Use a bike for short trips. It takes a certain amount of dedication to permanently give up a car in favour of a bike, but even an eco-slacker can make it work for short trips that don't require hauling a lot of stuff. Ride your bike for trips shorter than 5 kms and you could cut your carbon footprint significantly, save money on gasoline and car maintenance, and increase your fitness level — all at the same time.

7. Go shopping at your local Farmers’ Market. Going to the farmers’ market always sounds like such a great idea — until Saturday morning rolls around and you realise you have to get up early, have enough cash, and buy in season local fruit, vegetables and meat. Why not give it a try and discover the taste difference of fresh produce. The Ashburton Farmers Market is open every Saturday morning 9am to 12 noon on West Street.

8. eliminate phantom power. It takes approximately one second to unplug the charger for your cell phone, mp3 player,

e-reader, or iPod — but if you really can't be bothered, then let nifty, energy-efficient gadgets do the work for you. Use power strips to turn off all your appliances at once; put your television, DVD player, game system, and stereo on a timer so they automatically shut off overnight; and invest in chargers that stop drawing current when the device's battery is full. You could cut your energy bill by as much as 10 percent annually — without lifting a finger.

9. conserve water this summer. Look at how much water your household is using and encourage everyone to do their bit to conserve water. See if you can install a rain water harvesting tank or barrel on your house or shed to harvest rainwater to water your garden. For help with water conservation call 0800-627-824.

10. Any babies in the house? Invest in a nappy composting service with Envirocomp. Disposable nappies make up an estimated 4% of the waste to landfill. There are collection bins in Ashburton and Methven. For more info contact www.envirocomp.co.nz

11. create bee friendly spaces. Bees are under threat globally and need our help. Bees play a vital role in pollination in agriculture, horticulture and in our home gardens. Roughly 1/3 of what we eat is pollinated by bees. In New Zealand wild bee colonies can no longer exist long-term because of Varro mite. Colony collapse disorder is mysteriously killing bees with 50% of Italy’s 50 million bees and 50% of the USA honey bees dying of colony collapse in recent years. Bees need our managed care for their survival and for us to grow our food. Avoid using garden or farm chemicals that harm bees. Plant a variety of flowering plants and an area of wildflowers to provide safe food for bees or avoid mowing areas of lawns to grow daisies and clover

for bees. Become a beekeeper and get your kids interested in caring for bees. www.saveourbees.org.nz

12. Biodiversity – our heritage our future. In the year 2012 the average western person can recognise over 1000 brand names or logos and less than ten local indigenous plants. We often take for granted clean water and air that are provided by healthy eco systems with little or no thought as to the impacts we have on them. Much of New Zealand’s wildlife is found nowhere else eg approx 90% insects, 80% trees, ferns and flowering plants, 25% of bird species and 2 species of bat. New Zealand relies heavily on land based primary production such as farming, forestry and horticulture that are all based on introduced species. Protecting biodiversity can be as simple as planting and protecting native species and protecting waterways on our farms and in our towns

13. compost your food scraps and lawn clippings. Food scraps can make up 25 to 45 percent of your waste. Composting your food scraps, takeaway paper food wrappings and your lawn clippings can be surprisingly simple, pest-free and takes only minutes of your time each day.

Join us for a free monthly composting demo at the Ashburton Eco Education Centre. In addition to home composting and worm composting, these demos will place a particular emphasis on simple, pest-free methods of composting food scraps and lawn clippings and suitable containers as well as trouble shooting for the system you are using. Contact us to check the date & time or to get advice on home composting.

Free phone 0800627824 or email sherylstivens@gmail.com or bholley@mastagard.co.nz

Eco living resolutions for 2013

finance13Contributed by Irrigation NZ

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Following on from a successful governance course, IrrigationNZ closed the year by hosting a workshop dedicated to improving the financial knowledge of those managing and governing irrigation schemes.

The Institute of Directors ‘Finance Essentials’ course attracted a full house of directors and irrigation scheme managers. It is the first ‘irrigation-tailored’ financial course to be developed and IrrigationNZ is delighted to be able to offer it. The support of three excellent partners – Goodman Tavendale Reid (legal), KPMG (accounting) and BNZ (banking) is pivotal to the assistance IrrigationNZ can now offer in the governance space. Our partners have committed to helping IrrigationNZ instil leadership in this area providing participants with the opportunity to attend tailored courses at a significantly reduced price. 

December’s ‘Finance Essentials’ course covered the basics including the role and duty of directors, as well as understanding major elements of financial accounts and reporting,

and the linkages between them. The principles of good internal controls, using data to monitor performance, and building confidence to ask the right questions, were also addressed.

Potentially it could have been a dry topic. However, thanks to our excellent presenter Phillip Roth, feedback from participants suggested the course was not only valuable and interesting, but engaging and entertaining! Real life irrigation scheme financials enabled implications to be understood and offered context to the conversation. Providing ‘real’ numbers and scenarios helped participants understand what’s at stake and we will spend more time on this exercise in future workshops.

For the final session of the day, IrrigationNZ hosted an expert discussion panel (David Goodman – Goodman Tavendale Reid, Paul Keisanowski – KPMG and Guy Ensor – BNZ). Facilitated by Phillip Roth, the panel provided an opportunity for scheme directors and managers to ask any burning questions developed over the course of the workshop, or to raise

issues brought with them from their own experience. The following is just a taste of some of the queries posed and discussed. IrrigationNZ will use these to provide further depth and context in the follow-on course to Finance Essentials being developed.

- What are banks looking for when financing scheme development and upgrades?

- What are the advantages of the different depreciation methods?

- What is the range and advantages of the financial options schemes can use to provide for future upgrade - capital replacement funds, loans, investors, shareholder funding calls?

- What are the options for asset revaluation and what does it mean in real terms?

IrrigationNZ is already receiving bookings for our next course scheduled for early April. If you are interested and would like to attend this workshop, please contact Chris Coughlan at IrrigationNZ on phone (03) 341 2225.

Improving financial knowledge

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think big 14By Conor English, Chief Executive Officer, Federated Farmers of New Zealand

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New Zealand is a big country – at 268,000 square kilometres we are bigger than the United Kingdom; we are 67 per cent the size of Germany and 72 per cent the size of Japan. Our coast line is longer than both mainland USA and mainland China. Our economic zone is more than half the size of Australia. But these countries have far greater populations than we do. Demographics drives a lot in any country, any economy.

We have to get over this small country mentality and mindset and back ourselves more. Some are simply having the wrong discussion – is growth good? Yes it is. The question for New Zealand is not about whether we grow, but how we grow.

Human capability is critical to all parts of our community and economy. In most parts of New Zealand, except Auckland, the population is flat or in decline. And like all the other slow growth indebted countries, we also have an ageing

population. There are not enough people to produce the exports, provide the services, pay the taxes and build a future at first world income levels. We simply need more people.

But we need to be smart about it, in two ways.

First, we need to take the lid off our cities. When driving along Manakau Road to come into Auckland CBD from the airport, it seams like the tallest building is a corner dairy. We should stop building out and start to build up.

Perhaps Manakau Road needs to have 200 to 300 buildings 8 to 30 storeys tall, and then run a monorail down the middle to the airport.

Wellington is doing a pretty good job of “Manhattanising” on its Te Aro flat around Courtney Place. Surely Auckland is capable of similar. With the forecast of another million people, there simply needs to be more density of population per square km.

Let’s take the lid off

think big15

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Let’s take the lid off our cities

This would mean:

We stop gobbling up productive land – we’ve already lost 30 per cent over the past 30 years to urban sprawl and the conservation estate – now 35 per cent of New Zealand.

It means Auckland might have some chance of becoming a green or even an international city. Right now Auckland has no chance of doing either. It’s a series of little low level villages. It simply can’t be compared to Paris, Singapore, New York or London. The strategy seems to be to spread it out all the way to Taumarunui. It needs less traffic congestion, more public transport, better utilisation of resources, more integrated and diverse communities.

To do this it simply has to go up, not out. Public transport will never work unless there are far more people in far less space.

And it means more affordable housing, so home ownership becomes a reality, not just a dream. Instead of three bedrooms on a 400-metre section you might have 20 to 120, which would make the land component per bedroom somewhat less in theory.

Secondly, we need to be smart and spread the population growth across the country. This means investing in networks such as broadband, water, science, roads, public transport, energy and housing right across the nation, not just Auckland.

It’s important for New Zealand that Auckland is successful absolutely, but Auckland is not New Zealand, it is but one part of New Zealand.

So we need to increase our population in smart ways and we have got to stop thinking like a small country. Taking the lid of Auckland is an obvious next step.

conservation 16

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Contributed by Mary Ralston, Forest and Bird

The New Year gives us the opportunity to think afresh about what is important and consider our priorities – and I propose that pest control becomes a higher priority.

New Zealand is also unique in that it has a large proportion of its land area undeveloped and reserved for conservation. The conservation estate and the great diversity of landscapes are the main features that attract tourists to come here and part with billions of dollars every year: international tourism contributes about $9.7 billion to the New Zealand economy each year. It is our second biggest earner of foreign exchange and is primarily based on our landscape and natural environment.

This natural “commodity” that generates so much of our country’s income – our environment – is actually in very dire straits. The situation for our unique flora and fauna has never been so bad. Dozens of species of birds have become extinct, over 20 more are threatened with extinction, 15 are endangered and 28 are classified as vulnerable.

Many of these extinctions occurred a few hundred years ago when humans first showed up but the slow decline towards extinction of others is occurring right before our eyes and in our own memory. When I first began tramping in New Zealand dozens of kea would often be seen at huts and lookouts – and now, a solitary bird or a pair is all that you are likely to see.

The situation is catastrophic – we have declining native bird populations, silent forests and out of control pests. Pest-free offshore islands have become the last bastion of some species but the greatest problem is on the mainland where pest control needs to be constant because stoats,

possums and rats easily re-invade.

The Department of Conservation, which manages one-third of the country, spends just $20 million a year on control of pests such as possums, stoats and rats. In the country as a whole, New Zealand spends around $840 million each year on management of pests but economic losses as a result of pests cost $2.5 billion annually to the “productive” sector alone, and an inestimable amount of loss of native biodiversity – the natural capital on which our $9.7 billion tourism industry relies.

Shouldn’t we be doing more? We aren’t even holding the line when it comes to the effect of pests on our farming sector or on our wildlife. It is hard to understand why pest control is not more of a priority. It is a hard and unrelenting job but our livelihoods depend on it.

Good progress is being made on new and improved traps. In 2010 a three-year trial of self-resetting traps was launched – 10,000 traps were purchased and put out in Nelson Lakes National Park where the great-spotted kiwi is threatened by stoats. If they prove to be successful, these self-resetting traps could make a vast difference to pest control, particularly in difficult terrain. The gas-powered traps can kill up to 12 pests before they need to be set again by hand.

Locally, a small but dedicated group traps pests around Lake Heron in the hope that this will improve the breeding succcess of the threatened Australasian crested grebe. But volunteers can only do so much – we need pest control to be a national priority; our prosperity may well depend on it.

Pest control a high priority

Photos sUPPlIeD

Overseas tourists are attracted to New Zealand by our wonderful landscape - and they spend billions of dollars.

Ross Gordon re-sets a trap to catch predators of the Australasian crested grebe.

A volunteer moves a trap into position. Pest control needs to be a national priority.