“Through feedback and profiling winners, the awards encourage other farmers to be more proactive in their resource management by providing them with role models and practical ideas for sustainable land management.”
Dairy farmers Andrew and Vicky Booth, of Jade Dairies, won the Regional Supreme Award and scooped several other titles in last year’s competition.
This year’s regional winners will be announced at a dinner event at Whangārei’s Barge Park on March 20. Tickets are available online.
Big dry in Far North
The Far North is experiencing some of the driest soils in the North Island with moisture levels expected to further decline in the coming weeks.
According to Niwa’s weekly schedule, hotspots are located across the Far North and eastern Northland, coastal Gisborne, and from Southern Waikato.
As of last Friday, the New Zealand Drought Index (NZDI) map showed abnormally dry conditions in Northland — especially the east of the Far North, Auckland, part of the Coromandel Peninsula, eastern Bay of Plenty, and much of the lower North Island. Driest parts of the South Island include eastern Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, northern and southern Canterbury, and northern Otago.
While the central and western North Island saw significant rainfall totals of 40-75mm during the past week, amounts were modest — generally 25mm or less — in already-dry areas.
High pressure is expected to bring mostly dry weather to the North Island again this week, with Northland estimated to get rainfall only totalling less than 5mm.
The dry soil conditions are expected to continue at least until early April.
International Women’s Day
A group of Hokianga women gathered at the Kerikeri Domain last Friday to mark International Women’s Day and protest Israel’s war on Gaza. The women assembled an installation of rocks, each rock inscribed with the name of a Palestinian child killed in Gaza over the past five months. At 1.30pm they stopped to observe two minutes’ silence, and to read poems and sing songs. Palestine Solidarity Group spokeswoman Lu Murray said they had been gathering in Hokianga weekly since October, sharing a Palestinian-cuisine-inspired meal, and calling for a ceasefire.
Wastewater consent
The Far North District Council wants to renew its resource consent to run the Kaitāia wastewater treatment plant and discharge treated wastewater into the Awanui River. It has applied to Northland Regional Council to renew the resource consents for the continued operation of the plant, which services the township of Kaitāia and the adjacent sludge storage facility.
The regional council said if a hearing were required, the district council has requested independent commissioners be appointed to the hearing panel, including at least one commissioner with an understanding of tikanga Māori and the perspectives of local iwi or hapū.
Anyone wanting to make a submission must do so on or before March 28.
People can send a submission to Private Bag 9021, Whangārei Mail Centre, Whangārei 0148; or email the submission to info@nrc.govt.nz.
