Irrigator wins Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards

21 March 2014

Irrigator wins Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards

IrrigationNZ congratulates Mark and Devon Slee on taking out the main prize at last night’s Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Mark is a board member of IrrigationNZ with an irrigated dairy farm in Ealing within Ashburton District employing 13 full time and two part time staff.

IrrigationNZ CEO Andrew Curtis says Mark and Devon’s sustainable irrigation practices and investment in technology played a large part in their win.

“Mark and Devon are among our top performing irrigators because of their significant investment in technology and personal commitment to reducing their environmental footprint,” says Mr Curtis.

By monitoring soil moisture to assess water need and by using GPS technology to check sprinkler application, the result is highly targeted and efficient irrigation.

“Mark and Devon represent the new breed of SMART irrigators who strive for top performance across all of their activities on-farm. They understand the need to be responsible and sustainable irrigators and IrrigationNZ is proud of their achievement in being awarded the top prize in the Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Awards.”

Look out for the forthcoming launch of the SMART Irrigation website at the IrrigationNZ conference 7-9th April in Napier. The website transparently pulls together the facts around irrigation in New Zealand, its benefits alongside case studies of SMART Irrigation.

“Providing information to the New Zealand public is top of the agenda for IrrigationNZ. In a recent poll over 70% of the general public said they supported irrigation as long as it was done responsibly and sustainably; however 20% of those spoken with weren’t sure and wanted more information. This website will help bridge that gap,” says Mr Curtis.

ENDS

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