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A $35,000 grant from BayTrust will help a Bay of Plenty campsite run “off-grid”.
The grant will allow new solar panels and batteries to be bought for Ngamuwahine Outdoor Education Lodge, in the lower Kaimais, and also help teach students visiting the lodge about the benefits of solar power and the importance of sustainability.
Eleven local schools including Tauranga Intermediate, Bethlehem College, Pyes Pa School, Matua Primary, Otumoetai Primary, St Thomas More, Oropi School, Omokoroa Point School and Kaimai School currently send about 3000 students a year to stay overnight at the lodge. Expansion plans are under way to cater for growing demand, with a new “out camp” featuring canvas tents opening.
Camp administrator and head instructor Gerry Hart said the rising cost of electricity, plus a desire to make the lodge as environmentally friendly as possible, prompted the Ngamuwahine Lodge Trust to invest in three new solar power batteries and an additional 24 solar panels.
“Twelve years ago we did a major building development and at that time we installed 52 solar panels on the roof of our new building,” Hart said. “This has subsidised our power to some degree over the years but because we had no batteries to store the power created during the day, much was exported back to the grid.
“The lodge uses the most power in the evenings when the sun has gone down. If we can store the power produced during the day into batteries, that will allow us to utilise it during the evening.”
The new solar power system will produce 26,557kW per year which will account for two-thirds of the lodge’s annual power requirements, and reduce its $12,000 annual power bill.
“It will make things a lot more efficient than what we’ve got at the moment,” Hart said. “We’ve also got hot water on diesel at present which we’re going to change over and use some of the power we’re generating with the solar system to heat the hot water.”
The BayTrust grant will cover about half the cost of the new batteries and solar panels.
BayTrust chief executive Alastair Rhodes said the lodge’s solar power project was a great example of a community organisation looking to sustainably manage its own natural resources.
“Our priority is to help Bay of Plenty communities and our environment to flourish. This project achieves both of those aims. School camp is an important childhood milestone and Ngamuwahine Outdoor Education Lodge is a very special place for students to test their physical and emotional limits. It’s also the perfect venue to learn about environmental kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and the benefits solar power can provide.”
Economic confidence took a dive in all parts of the country in the last quarter of 2022.
The Westpac McDermott Miller Regional Economic Confidence survey found ongoing rises in interest rates and the cost of living, as well as falling house prices, have weighed on confidence across the regions.
“In fact, households’ confidence in their regional economies is now in negative territory in every region,” said Westpac acting chief economist Michael Gordon.
According to the report, falling kiwifruit returns and poor weather early in the growing season may have dampened the mood in the Bay of Plenty where confidence went from -6 per cent in the quarter ending September last year, to -26 per cent in the quarter ending in December.
Similarly, forestry sector returns remained soft. The local housing market, like the rest of the country, continues to weaken, with house prices falling by over 13 per cent since the November peak. Moreover, with interest rates and ongoing cost-of-living increases starting to bite on more household budgets, we expect pessimists to continue to outweigh optimists in the region over coming quarters, Penny said.
An upgrade to a platform to manage myrtle rust can now give plant producers real-time spray management advice based on the actual sprays they use in their nurseries.
HortPlus and Plant & Food Research have upgraded the Myrtle Rust Climate Model in its online NZPPI Weather and Plant Disease Management Platform.
HortPlus director Mike Barley said the upgrade was pioneering as it was the first time specific advice on fungicide use had been included in the MetWatch platform for plant disease management.
“It will allow plant producers to be more accurate and efficient with the use of chemical sprays to combat myrtle rust this season. This is especially important as myrtle rust spreads down the country.”
Rather than spraying seedlings on a typical 14-day cycle, the Myrtle Rust Climate Model enables producers to time spray applications based on real-time disease risk.
September 15 is a date for the diaries of those looking forward to the 2023 Te Puke Business Excellence Awards.
The last awards were presented at a glitzy event in Te Puke Memorial Hall in July 2021, with Anann Pineapple Pub owners Miriam Canty and Leigh Bartosh taking the Supreme Award. Sabrina Harms, who organised the event, will also be back on board this year.
Te Puke Economic Development Group is behind the awards, and managing director Mark Boyle said the move to September makes sense.
“That timing suits people best. It’s past kiwifruit [season], and then they need June, July and August, those three months, to get it judged,” he said.
There has also been a shake-up of award categories, with new titles: Best Emerging Business, Outstanding Community Contribution, Excellence in Sustainability, Excellence in Innovation, Ultimate Customer Experience and Leader of the Year. There will still be a Supreme Award winner.
Those nominating would be given the chance to propose which category or categories each business should be judged in.
“So, people can nominate one business and say they think they should be judged on sustainability or ultimate customer experience, so once the nomination is accepted, when the judges go, [they’re] going to look particularly at those categories and where the business fits into them.”
Boyle said the turnout at the last awards was amazing.
After some disruption, the plan is to now continue to hold the awards every other year.
He said it was important to recognise business excellence.
“Businesses are meeting the needs of consumers and industry across the district, so it’s very important to highlight them, to give them the opportunity to participate in the process where we search for and judge excellence, and it’s a great way of bringing the business community together as one so that they can understand we have a value proposition. Business drives communities, so if you keep bringing it to the fore and highlighting it and judging it and making them part of the process, it shows that we are healthy and focused on being the best we can be.”
“The earlier version didn’t allow for specific spray information so modelling was based on average spray responses combined with MetWatch weather data. The new update is based on the actual active ingredients being used at each nursery so the spray management advice is much more precise,” he said.
The customised tool is the result of a collaboration between New Zealand Plant Producers, HortPlus and Plant & Food Research to improve disease management outcomes for growers and for New Zealand as a whole.
Trials and further development of the platform will continue and over time may include other disease climate models, such as those affecting fruit and vegetable growers. The platform and myrtle rust model is free for NZPPI members and for other users until December.
'It’s an expensive asset, and it should be well-used.'