The highly productive land of the Heretaunga Plains and beyond, their value to growers, producers and the wider economy, and threats to fertile soils and water resources were all explored at a recent Soils Symposium held in Hastings.

Hastings District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council partnered up to hold the event, aimed at building understanding of the nature and value of the soils, and which will help inform future planning and decision-making.

The symposium programme covered a range of perspectives and ideas including the importance of the Plains to growers and mana whenua, scientific information on the soils resource and threats to it, the planning framework for protecting Hawke’s Bay’s productive lands into the future.

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said Hawke’s Bay was the largest apple-producing region in the country, and the second largest wine producer after Marlborough, demonstrating the importance of the Plains to horticulture and viticulture, and the importance of those industries to our region.

“Our economic success is underpinned by the great produce grown and processed by our producers and exported to the rest of the world. Its economic value to our region is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“That wouldn’t happen without our superb Heretaunga Plains land and water resources, and our fantastic growing climate that makes them even more special.

“But this economic success creates pressures and threats to the land resource. Together with Napier City and the Regional Council, we are about to prepare a Future Development Strategy for the Heretaunga Plains area – to cover how we accommodate future growth while protecting our land resources for the future.

“These strategies are essential in determining how we will manage growth and protect our soils for the future. Importantly, they will allow our communities a say in how the various pressures on our soils resources should be managed.

“This symposium was the start of a ‘community conversation’ about how we preserve and protect our versatile lands – it is important our communities understand how special, precious and vulnerable our soils resources are.”

Hawke's Bay Regional Council Chair Rick Barker said the region's soils took nature millions of years to create.

“They are nature's gift that must be protected. We humans cannot create them, and they won’t come again. These soils fuel our horticulture, viticulture, and agricultural sectors. It's on these soils that we have built our wealth.

“A growing population has driven urban expansion, putting irreplaceable soils under houses, factories, concrete, and tarmac. If this expansion doesn't stop we will have smothered the goose that lays golden eggs.

“Local governments must protect these irreplaceable soils. Local government must redirect development elsewhere. Accommodation must go up not out.

“Protecting the environment and these fertile soils has to be a non-negotiable, no compromise, number one priority transcending any and all the individual interests of developers and land owners.

“We must accept that we individually are temporary guardians of the land, and that the land will be here for countless generations to follow. Our gift to future generations must be the land in its best state of preservation.”

Former Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc. chair Ngahiwi Tomoana set the scene for the event describing the importance of the land and the waters of Heretaunga to tangata whenua.

“When we think about the land, the whenua, we think of it as the womb, and the water around that, the placenta, is also of prime importance – it’s not just dirt, it’s life-giving.”

Soil scientist Keith Vincent explained the alluvial nature of the soils, situated where the Ngaruroro, Tukituki and Tutaekuri Rivers coalesced - their high fertility and productivity due to being in a river valley with a favourable climate zone.

Plant and food scientist and New Zealand Royal Society president Brent Clothier discussed the importance of the land and climate in making Hawke’s Bay’s land so versatile, and how land management techniques have been used to make land regarded as marginal productive.

He also discussed how these techniques have been used to demonstrate the value of land and help protect it from development.

How to work with the soils to improve their sustainability was the focus of Page Bloomer Associates principal and agriculture and horticulture consultant Dan Bloomer.

He talked about methods being used here and overseas to reduce impacts from threats such as wind erosion and water run-off, embracing principles of regenerative agriculture.

“Regenerative agriculture is about minimising disturbance, keeping the soil covered, keeping the living roots in the system at all times and growing a diverse range of crops.”

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council team leader marine air and land science Dr Kathleen Kozyniak talked about the potential impact of climate change including the increasing frequency and intensity of flooding, droughts and storm events.

“Much of our cropping land is exposed to flood hazards – not only rainfall but one-in-100 year storm events and different levels of sea rise. This is putting more pressure on land availability.”

The soil’s importance to the region’s growers was canvassed by representatives from industry bodies and companies producing locally , including Kraft HeinzWatties, Delegats, HB Winegrowers, Apple and Pear, and RJ Flowers Ltd, who all spoke of the region’s unique growing properties and the value of the produce grown to the local and national economy.

The thrust of the symposium was to address the question of how we protect the soils from becoming a victim of their own success, how to sustainably plan for future growth of the primary industry as well as the resident population without consuming highly-productive land.

Campbell Brown Planning Ltd’s Philip Brown, with over 30 years of experience in planning and resource management, said that mechanisms such as the [existing] Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Strategy and the upcoming Future Development Strategy were important tools to manage development.

He noted, however, that in order to reduce pressure for urban expansion, a more aggressive approach to having more compact housing development in existing urban areas was probably needed.

“There can always be a compelling case for expanding urban areas to provide for housing, but tipping the scales in favour of protecting the soils would seem appropriate in the Hawke’s Bay context.”

To hear more from the speakers at the symposium, watch the video or view the presentations at https://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz/hastings/events/hdc-events/soils-symposium/

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