Farming in the “sensitive lakes” area of the Ashburton high country has its added challenges for extensive sheep and beef farmers.
More than 50 farmers were joined by Environment Canterbury (ECan) representatives to try to talk sense around water quality issues that have become an ongoing frustration for farmers and recreationists alike.
The day was the Federated Farmers annual high country big day out hosted by Erewhon Station, one of four high country stations tangled in the water quality web.
Kick-starting the discussion amid the vastness of the region, Castle Ridge Station farmer and Ashburton Lakes catchment group chair Kerry Harmer outlined the longstanding issue that the landowners have been “doing stuff about for a very long time”.
In early 2023 a catchment group encompassing the 13 Ashburton high country lakes and 58,000 hectares over four extensive sheep and beef properties was formed.
The catchment also takes in New Zealand’s Te Araroa walkway and many recreational hunting, fishing, water sports, tramping and snow opportunities, enjoyed by tourists and many people in the wider Canterbury community.
“Long considered an area of significance to the national and local iwi, our catchment has been under the spotlight recently due to concerns of deteriorating lake quality, something we as landowners have been concerned about and are acting upon,” Harmer said.
While at the moment the heat is on farmers, Harmer said the farmers are only part of the problem.
“It is a multilateral group working on the action plan for the area and everyone has to play a part.
“We [farmers] are focused on the part we do play; we are working to do better and making sure we are making a difference.
“We could spend millions of dollars on fencing but will it make a difference? That’s what we need to know.”
Since September 2023, the farmers have been measuring water quality where the water enters their properties.
Nitrate levels range from less than 0.002ppm to 1.05ppm, which is extremely low, with some less than 10% of the nitrate levels in the drinking water of the Ashburton town water supply.
“Now here’s one for you: at a recent meeting in Ashburton the water from our creek and the water jug on the table were tested and the water jug was 10 times higher in nitrates than our [farm] tested creek water.”
In 60% of areas measured the water quality does not change or actually improves as it travels through the properties.
In 40% the water quality deteriorates slightly as it travels through the properties.
In all cases Harmer said this relates to the addition of spring water to the streams along the way.
“We are researching this to identify the source of the nitrates whether it be animals, nitrogen fixation, organic matter breakdown or from parent rock material and the age of this water.
“We hope that with this information we will be able to find ways to reduce the nitrate levels coming from the springs. Meantime what we do know is there is a whole lot of hydrological stuff we have a lot of work to do on.”
Although winter feeding systems are less intensive than elsewhere, the landowners are undertaking a monitoring programme to determine the actual loss from crops.
Don Whyte heads Whyte Farming, which farms two of the four impacted properties, Mt Possession and Hakatere Stations.
“We had to get regulated to get a consent to farm and in my case it took two years and cost us $36,000.
“We became a focus [of ECan], driven by the sensitive lake red zone.
“It’s a bit tough and not fair when there are bigger things happening creating the water problems than the farming of four families.
“Unfortunately, we are in the frontline and our draft consent conditions suggest sheep be excluded from sensitive farming areas a well as deer and cattle; this is under our consent to farm with ECan that is heavy handed with over regulation.
“For us 95% of our area is sheep – we run 15,000 sheep. To fence it would cost in excess of $1 million and then stock water, a reticulated system would be damn near impossible,” Whyte said.
Erewhon Station has been water testing for the past 10 years.
“Our testing is proving a left-hand threaded anti-farming agenda,” Colin Drummond said.
Drummond expressed concern as to just what, where and how ECan is testing to get results that farmers are the problem.
“With 90-100 cows over 10,000ha there is immeasurable impact on water quality and 26 years of exclusion hasn’t changed Lake Emma.
“We don’t need to leave this area, if we did would it change? – I think not,” Drummond said.
