INZ applauds Central Plains Water

14 August 2015

INZ applauds Central Plains Water for providing farmers reliable water for diversification and efficiency

“Today marks a big step for irrigation infrastructure in New Zealand. Central Plains Water will help sustain Canterbury,” says Nicky Hyslop, Chair of IrrigationNZ on the official opening of New Zealand’s largest irrigation scheme for some years, by the Prime Minister John Key.

Mrs Hyslop attended the opening with IrrigationNZ CEO Andrew Curtis.

“Access to reliable water is particularly important at the moment during a dairy downturn as it will allow farmers to diversify and weather the storm,” says Mrs Hyslop.

“Tapping into this water also means farmers can more cost effectively and efficiently grow grass using precise application of water and reducing nutrient run off. This will help our pastoral farmers better compete in international markets.

“Central Plains Water is one of New Zealand’s biggest co-operative irrigation schemes and that it has met its deadlines and water will be flowing to shareholders on schedule, is fantastic for our industry. We can also celebrate the fact that Central Plains Water was constructed within 18 months with 100% compliance on its environmental conditions.”

“Getting a large scheme like this one over the line from a regulatory point of view, to ensure the financing stacks up, to get the construction right and to pull all of the pieces together to make it a reality is huge task. It has been executed well and shows that this country is able to get significant, regional scale water infrastructure funded and built,” says Nicky Hyslop.

Stage 1 will irrigate approximately 20,000 hectares of farmland across the Canterbury Plains in an area bordered by the Rakaia and Hororata rivers and Stage 2 has already been gaining support from shareholders. This stage will potentially irrigate another 30,000ha.

ENDS

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