Lower Waitaki

LOWER WAITAKI IRRIGATION COMPANY

RACE OPERATOR

The Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company Ltd is a co-operative Company owned by 200 farmer shareholders and manages the day to day operation and supply of irrigation water to 20,000ha of farming properties on the Waitaki Plains, along with supplying water to the Oamaru Township and associated industries.

The Company requires a Race operator to join our team and are looking for a self-motivated person with excellent organisational and communication skills along with a willingness to learn.

Core responsibilities include liaising with shareholders on a daily basis, controlling the race distribution network and carrying out maintenance on canals and race structures.

We are seeking applicants with the following experience and skills:

• Good communication skills.
• Basic mechanical and carpentry skills.
• Basic computer skills and a grasp on modern technology.
• Knowledge of the area and irrigation experience would be an advantage.
• Experience in chemical spray application Growsafe and HSNO certificates an advantage.
• Some machine operating experience, tractors, and excavators.
• Ability to work extended hours during the irrigation season this will include one rostered weekend on every third weekend.

This is a permanent position offering a competitive salary rewarding your experience.

Benefits include a work phone and vehicle. The Company will provide training where required.

You must be motivated and be prepared to work in a team environment and enjoy working in the outdoors.

Applications must be in by August 1st 2014

Please apply in writing along with a current CV to:

The Race Manager

Lower Waitaki irrigation Company

P O Box327, Oamaru

or email to : moira.lwic@xtra.co.nz

Improved water quality is the aim of four parties that signed memoranda of understanding in Oamaru last week.

The North Otago Irrigation Company, Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company, Waitaki Irrigators Collective Ltd and the Otago Regional Council officially agreed to work together for the good of the area’s rivers.

The North Otago and Lower Waitaki companies irrigate a combined total of 32,600ha of farmland, while the collective represents irrigators watering 75,000ha.

The memoranda outlined how each party would help implement the council’s Regional Plan: Water for Otago Plan Change 6A by setting goals, understanding values and taking part in catchment management until 2020. That is when all water quality thresholds in the plan will be applied.

Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said the memoranda were significant steps towards achieving sustainable, high-quality water standards in North Otago.

”It’s great to see the quality leadership from these organisations,” Mr Woodhead said.

”This, plus their science expertise, will mean that by 2020 land users will have the opportunity to meet the water quality standards we seek.”

North Otago Irrigation Company chief executive Robyn Wells said it was vital to work collaboratively to implement the new rules.

After gaining information from the catchment process, the company would add more practices into its farm plans to reduce contaminants entering waterways.

”These improvements to our environmental management system will then be rolled out with our existing shareholders and for any new area of irrigation we develop in our expansion programme,” Ms Wells said.

”Moving forward, we need to be working hard to understand the gap between current practice and the 2020 water quality standards.”

Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company chairman Chris Dennison said the farming community was looking forward to working with the council to protect the high-quality water in the Waitaki plains aquifers.

”The introduction of environmental farm plans for our shareholders and more intensive monitoring of groundwater quality will ensure that viable farm businesses can work in harmony with the environment,” he said.

Each memorandum varied slightly to reflect implementation issues in the Kakanui and Waitaki plains catchments. Farmers on rolling hill country faced different challenges to those on flat land.

– by Sally Brooker

Otago Regional Council councillors and staff on Thursday saw how the North Otago Irrigation Company and its farmers are managing efficient use of water and flow-on effects before signing an agreement with North Otago irrigation companies and representatives.

Cropping and dairy support farmer Peter Mitchell with the help of the company’s environmental manager Jodi Leckie, explained how variable rate irrigation and close monitoring of soil needs helped both the farmer and the environment on a Fortification Rd property.

The Memorandum of Agreement is with North Otago Irrigation Company (NOIC), the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company (LWIC), and the Waitaki Irrigators’ Collective Ltd and concerns implementation of the council’s Regional Plan: Water for Otago Plan Change 6A.

NOIC and LWIC together irrigate about 32,600ha of Otago farmland and the collective represents the interests of irrigation entities in the lower Waitaki catchment with a total irrigated area of 75,000ha.

The memorandum describes how the parties will work together in setting goals, understanding values and engagement in a catchment management process until 2020, when all thresholds within the plan become applicable.

ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said that was a significant step towards the achievement of sustainable high quality water standards in North Otago.

NOIC chief executive Robyn Wells said it was all about working collaboratively on implementation of the new rules, and LWIC chairman Chris Dennison said the farming community on the lower Waitaki plains looked forward to working to protect the high standard of water quality in the Waitaki plains aquifers.

Build on your knowledge of soil water properties and the latest technologies allowing you to irrigate more effectively and efficiently.
TOPICS COVERED INCLUDE:
• Soil water properties and variability in soils
• Mapping variability within a paddock
• Managing variability with irrigation
• Soil moisture measurement
• Developments in remote monitoring, control and reporting tools.
WORKSHOP DATES:
Tuesday 13th May – Dunsandel
Wednesday 14th May – Oxford
Thursday 15th May – Culverden
Monday 26th May – Papakaio
Tuesday 27th May – Temuka
Wednesday 28th May – Methven
Thursday 29th May – Ashburton
All workshops start at 3pm and run for two and a half hours with drinks and nibbles to follow.
EFFICIENT IRRIGATION WORKSHOPS
Registrations are required, please visit www.precisionirrigation.co.nz/workshops to confirm a spot on one of these great workshops. We will email you closer to the time with full details including workshop locations.

Grant McFadden won the Ron Cocks Memorial Award

When Grant McFadden drives through rural North Otago, he is amazed at what irrigation has done for the district.
The retired Maf policy manager was a key support for farmers on the lower Waitaki plains as an irrigation scheme was initiated in the 1970s.

His longtime involvement in irrigation was rewarded recently with the Ron Cocks Memorial Award for outstanding leadership in irrigation.

He received the award jointly with Ashburton-based farm business consultant and rural valuer Bob Engelbrecht at IrrigationNZ’s conference in Napier.

Together, the pair had more than a century of involvement in advocating for agriculture and irrigation interests, IrrigationNZ chairman John Donkers said.

Mr McFadden began his career as a farm adviser with Maf in the mid-1960s and was based in Oamaru from 1974 to 1980.

From the early 1980s, he worked with farmers going through deregulation and drought and later moved into MAF Policy, as he realised it offered opportunities ”to make a real difference to people”.

In 1988, he was handed responsibility for running the country’s 38 irrigation schemes and preparing them for sale to farmers when the Ministry of Works was closed.

He later managed many research contracts looking at the sustainability and economics of irrigation. He was also involved in the early days of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy as an instigator of funding and steering group member.

Now living in Christchurch, he recalled the construction of the Lower Waitaki scheme.

The percentage of farmers seeking to be involved with it well exceeded the required level, which was no surprise, given the concerns about drought. Severe droughts in the late 1960s had devastated the area, he said.

It tended to be an older age group of farmers and, after obtaining water, many sold out to younger ones.

It was a ”real win-win”. The older farmers realised good sales for their properties, allowing them to move elsewhere or retire, and a ”great invigoration of young, new blood” came in, he said.

Mr McFadden said the changes in land use that followed were never anticipated.

Planning and preparation for the scheme was all based on continued intensification of sheep and beef and cropping operations, and the change happened very quickly.

Getting water on to the free-draining, stony soils was a ”huge breakthrough” and a very capable group of farmers was involved, led by Sid Hurst, coincidentally the inaugural recipient of the Ron Cocks Memorial Award in 2008.

During and up to that time, there had been a push to get water on to the North Otago downlands. Not much progress was made then and it was ”amazing” to see what happened after the opening of the North Otago Irrigation Company’s scheme in 2006.

Receiving the Ron Cocks award came ”out of the blue” and he was thrilled to receive it alongside Mr Engelbrecht.

The pair had worked closely together on ”all sorts of things” and shared very similar philosophies and experiences. It was the first time the award had been given to two individuals.

Lower Waitaki Irrigation website built with responsive design

Welcome to the new Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company website.

On this website you can find the staff and board member contact details, lots of information about our scheme, maps, application forms, weather forecasts for our area, notices of meetings, read  our newsletter and much more.

We plan to regularly update news items on this the news page and add articles of interest, photos and other information we believe is useful to users and visitors alike.

If you have any ideas about further information you might require, make sure you contact Ross or the office.