Manawatu hill country erosion battle

Hill country farmers are changing their attitudes to their erosion-prone country, says Agriculture and Forestry Minister David Carter.

He was flown in a helicopter by Horizons Regional Council to check out flood protection in the lowland area and hill country. Mr Carter went to stopbanks on the lower Manawatu, Moutoa floodgates, Kopane Bridge and Pohangina and Turakina Valley hill country. He said two hill country farmers he spoke to said there seemed to be a greater awareness of the erosion problem coming from the hills reports The Manawatu Standard. The sustainable land use initiative (SLUI) programme was developed around voluntary whole-farm plans which assess the farms’ physical, environmental and business resources in a structured way. They are funded by Horizons in partnership with the Government on a dollar-for-dollar deal, through MAF’s hill country erosion fund.

“The two farmers were enthusiastic supporters of the whole-farm plan approach and working with the council to develop planting programmes for the highly erodible country, ” Mr Carter said. He asked the farmers if there was more acceptance amongst the farming community for erosion protection. John Cousins, who farms at Pohangina, where the helicopter landed, said 10 per cent of the property was now planted. But he had not lost any production and carried the same number of stock as he had before the planting, he told the minister. Craig Mitchell, Horizon’s group manager of environmental management, said there are 245 whole farm plans, of which 203 are being implemented. These projects have translated into work on the ground, all aimed at reducing sediment yields from hill country into river systems and include more than 150 kilometres of fencing; 1325 hectares of forestry planted; 19,100 space planted poplar and willow poles; 700 hectares of riparian retirement.

The other 42 which had had farm plans done were on hold, as the farms were on the market or they had experienced a bad year, or other issues, Mr Mitchell said. “We’ve arbitrarily capped whole farm plans at 100 a year and we have no trouble getting that 100 a year because that is what can be managed by the people involved and funded by the community.” He said the idea is that by year 13 or 14, there will be 1500 whole farm plans done and they’ll be implemented.