Drought continues in Canterbury

The stupid people who live in cities think the drought is over, and give little or no thought to where their food comes from

They'll know sooner rather than later!

I was going to prepare a report on the drought in Canterbury in the general context of climate change. I require an input of information from others. One was forthcoming. I am disappointed (to put it mildly).

Comments from one farmer who prefers to stay anonymous (which, in its turn says something!): 

"The drought hasn't ended. What's happened is there has been small amounts of rain combined with lower temperatures, so everything has greened up a bit, but no real growth, more critical for pastoral farmers than arable. As time goes on the chance of getting any real growth before winter declines."

Cold snap does little to help Canterbury farmers

Unseasonal snow has done little to alleviate the plight of Canterbury's drought-stricken farmers.

3News,

15 April, 2015

A polar snap brought rain and snow to parts of the region yesterday, with a light layer settling in Oxford, Darfield, Cust, Sheffield, Hawarden, Methven and other inland areas.

But north Canterbury sheep farmer Dan Hodgen says the weather was "hit-and-miss", with some desperate farmers missing out.

Canterbury was officially declared a drought zone in February alongside Marlborough and parts of Otago.

"Rain is still good for the people who got it. It is going to make a difference going into winter, but it's certainly not going to save their bacon," Mr Hodgen says.

"It will help, it certainly wasn't the box at the top of the wish-list but it was a box on the wish-list.

"The big problem now is the guys without irrigation are playing a race between the temperature and the moisture. While we're thankful for it, it's also brought that soil temperature down, and of course once we get to a certain temperature the grass stops growing anyway."

Mr Hodgen says farmers are being forced to sell stock or bring in extra feed at a high cost.

"One I was speaking to last night has spent over $100,000 bring feed in and he's carrying around 60 percent of the stock he would normally carry at this time of year.

"It's pretty rough and they're getting through admirably, but nobody's going to me making any money this year."

Local farmers are eligible for an assistance payment, but the money was only allocated to people who were "struggling to get food on the table" and is equivalent to the dole, Mr Hodgen says.

Big dry drags on for southern farmers

Ministry for Primary Industries monitoring situation as Marlborough and Canterbury await end to drought.