| 47 Reliable water a must Kim Bowden On the plains of mid-Canterbury, Ross Hewson has spent 50 years learning to live with risk. These days, he reckons the harder part is figuring out where the reward is meant to come from. Ross and his wife Rochelle farm at Pendarves. Their 2,200-hectare operation is fully irrigated and focused on arable and vegetable crops - potatoes, onions and hybrid vegetable seed among them. It’s a high-input business that runs on skill, tight planning and long rotations. Some paddocks won’t see the same crop again for a decade. And none of it works without reliable water. They draw from both groundwater and surface schemes. Deep wells - 150 to 200 metres down - feed pumps running at up to 200 kilowatts. Two irrigation schemes supply pressurised and pond-fed water across the property. Water is non-negotiable, Ross says. But it doesn’t come cheap. “Without irrigation we couldn’t grow anything properly,” he says. “But lifting water 80 metres out of the ground and running pumps that size - it’s a very expensive exercise.” Normally, summer is when that infrastructure earns its keep, but this season has been different. Instead of dust and dry nor’westers, Ross and his team have been grappling with relentless rain, hail, and shrinking harvest windows. “We haven’t probably irrigated our potatoes since mid-December,” he says. “That is unheard of…It’s been a shocking summer and a terrible wet period just when, if there’s one time in the year we need sunshine and blue skies, it’s mid-December on, and we’ve had the opposite.” In one recent event, the farm measured close to 60 millimetres of rain when forecasts suggested a fraction of that. A neighbour clocked 80. ARABLE » Hewson Farms / Chris Dillon Unusually wet season Karen Phelps Southland arable and livestock farmer Chris Dillon says rising costs and regulatory demands are pushing farmers to the brink. Chris and his wife Rochelle manage an 860-hectare operation but he says the pressures from fuel and fertiliser prices, grain market volatility and council regulations are the most significant challenges this season. “If grain prices come down and increased prices in fuel and fertiliser continue we will see less grain planted this season,” says Chris. “There are other options to graze stock, so arable farmers are swinging back to livestock production.” Chris is particularly critical of the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan, which he says aims to have all farms operating under audited farm environment plans by May 2026. He says most farmers already maintain plans in some form but the auditing process is cumbersome and costly. “I’ve had a plan for the last few years. The bugbear I’ve got is that I now get a bill from Overseer every year, which is a flawed mechanism for an arable farm as it was set up to sell fertiliser, not as a regulatory tool, and a bill from a consultant for putting together the report. Both have zero benefit for my farm. I do it once a year to get ahead of the regulations and it tells me nothing I don’t already know.” He argues the system prioritises compliance over practical outcomes. “If you run your farm plan as a live document, it becomes useful. There are many platforms to do that and if someone at council wants to see something, they can ask. I run the document in an app form with winter grazing plan drawn up, where troughs are, break sizes etc and I can check it at any time and so can any staff.” Chris predicts widespread non-compliance if the current approach continues. “There will be mass non-compliance and there is local government reform coming. I think the 0800 141 545 | info@carrfields.co.nz | www.carrfields.co.nz QUALITY SEED. RELIABLE GRAIN. REAL RESULTS. Repeated hailstorms have also battered crops across Canterbury. The response has been to throw machinery and manpower at ever-smaller breaks in the weather. Typically, Ross runs four headers at harvest. This year, he’s running five. “The amount of work we’ve got to do in such a short space of time is almost unmanageable,” he says. “Everybody’s having to throw more gear and equipment at things to try and recover and get things done…there’s not double the amount of machinery sitting around in sheds.” He says farmers are leaning on neighbours and dealers for any extra gear they can get. The numbers haven’t been much kinder. Input costs jumped after Covid - in some cases doubling, Ross says - but returns haven’t kept pace. “Look, I’ve been an arable farmer a long time. It’s an incredibly challenging time at the moment,” he says. “Those costs have never been reflected in our income and what we get paid for things…it’s not possible for all these businesses to absorb those.” More growers are moving into lower-risk alternatives such as dairy and dairy support, even as New Zealand’s demand for grain and vegetables remains. Ross is blunt about why. “It’s really simple. No one can afford to grow crops and not receive enough remuneration,” he says. “It’s costing more to grow these crops than they’re getting back, and economics will determine what people do.” Ross and Rochelle are now working through succession with their son, daughter and their partners, all of whom are involved in the business. But Ross worries about the wider future of the sector unless more value is passed back down the chain. “The cropping industry is at a critical crossroad,” he says. “There needs to be more value at the bottom of the chain to enable farmers to not only invest but continue to produce what they do.” regional council should be dissolved as they are not fit for purpose and add zero value to our business. They are giving everyone a speeding ticket because their car can go fast. It’s not giving a speeding ticket to the ones that are speeding. “The environment gains are led from farmers doing things proactively they see value in. On my farm for example we’ve done voluntary measures for years - fencing off rivers, planning where we graze in winter - all commonsense stuff that works. The current regulations and auditing system are doing nothing to help us.” Other pressures weigh heavily for the Dillon’s farming operation. Chris highlights the effects of an unusually wet season on harvesting. “This season has been challenging as we haven’t really had a summer. We can’t harvest it naturally dry and have to run it through a dryer. That adds to costs.” He also notes limited ability to pass on rising input costs to buyers due to fixed contracts. Rates rises due to what Chris considers council inefficiency add further strain. He proposes that merging the regional council into the district council could save money and direct resources toward effective environmental measures. Chris also points to other market and operational pressures including unpredictable weather patterns that are forcing farmers to rethink strategies. He and Rochelle continue to innovate, balancing arable crops and grazing systems while advocating for better policies through Chris’s role as vice chair of grains on the National Arable Executive for Federated Farmers. Proudly supporting Chris Dillon
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