Murray Turner doesn't mince words when he says: "Without irrigation, you're cooked."
As far as he is concerned, irrigation has turned the Waitaki Valley into a "power house" for farming - an oasis of high production of quality produce. "Without it, it would just be a desert," he said.
The long-time valley resident and horticulturist is operations manager for the Upper Waitaki Community Irrigation Co.
He was also involved in designing and installing the irrigation systems for the vineyards in the valley.
While Mr Turner always believed the valley had the potential for growing grapes, he acknowledges it could have been a "spectacular failure".
But what was being proven was that the quality of wines was becoming "outstanding". Aromatic whites, particularly riesling and chardonnay, were going to be world-beaters, he believed.
There were about 110ha of grapes planted in the valley, or about half a million vines, which were all irrigated by a microdrip irrigation system, which was an extremely efficient use of water.
The advent of grapes in the valley had added diversity to the area and "put the place on the map".
Mr Turner, who has his own 3ha vineyard, believed the Waitaki Valley was always going to be a boutique producer of high-quality produce.
It was "on the edge" for growing grapes, with a long growing season and one of the last to harvest. But it had proved itself to be good and the quality being attained was "second to none".
Hilderthorpe cropping farmer Chris Dennison said irrigation on the lower Waitaki Plains allowed farmers to have confidence in high input systems. Under dryland farming, the "spectre of drought" was too near for those systems.
When irrigation was being developed on the lower Waitaki, it was considered marginal by many people and many farmers left, not wanting to face either the cost, the work or the change in mindset. Now it is a major contributor to the North Otago economy.
Mr Dennison recalled 26 arable farmers on the plains had their own combine harvesters in the late 1970s and early 1980s - now he could only count about four.
While he now also had a dairy unit on his property - a 50:50 sharemilker is in their third season - it was cropping that was Mr Dennison's passion.
With irrigation, he could aim for high yields and it brought some consistency, allowing him to employ staff, which made life "a lot easier than casuals coming and going".
There were also flow-on effects - farmers had a more valuable asset - and it had also brought a lot of vibrancy and youthful enthusiasm to the district.
Mr Dennison acknowledged that irrigation was not for everyone. "The whole thing is a risk-and-return business. It's never easy in the first instance. It's not for everybody," he said.
New Zealand was a lucky country, because it was water-rich, but the resource needed to be managed in a sustainable way.
In the future, Mr Dennison believed his property would not be growing wheat and canola, but vegetable crops like broccoli and carrots, to help feed the world's population.
For North Otago cropping company Mitchell and Webster, irrigation has meant a reliable source of water.
With that, it meant the company could reliably predict a year and it had given it new opportunities in different markets, Nick Webster said, while taking a break from packing new potatoes grown at Totara under the Rare Earth brand.
Mitchell and Webster farms about 1400ha, about half of which is owned and half is leased, with about 600ha irrigated.
Water was provided through the North Otago Irrigation Co's scheme, stage one of which was opened in 2006.
Before that, Mitchell and Webster had a small amount of irrigation, but it hardly provided reliable water, Mr Webster said.
It had provided opportunities for young people in North Otago and there were "numerous examples" of young people returning home, Mr Webster said.
The biggest thing with water in North Otago was that it was expensive and so users had to look at how to make the most efficient use of it.
And it made good business sense to have some diversification within the business, which helped spread the risk.
Justin Watt, from Waitaki Orchards, just east of Kurow, said water was crucial to his operation, both for frost-fighting - a crop could be lost in a night - and irrigation.
He found the ongoing arguments over the lower Waitaki River and water resources "quite debilitating" - and costly.
The community had a right to survive, while being sensible, efficient and environmentally aware with water use.
His business was "just a little family business trying to hang in there". In a good year, it employed about 50 people through summer, mostly casual staff, which put a lot of money into the local community.
Irrigated farming is all Duntroon dairy farmer Matt Ross has ever known.
Originally from Hawkes Bay and a pipfruit background, Mr Ross completed a bachelor in applied science, in agriculture, at Massey University.
As part of his practical studies, he came to Papakaio to work on a dairy farm in his first year.
After graduating, he returned to the same farm and managed it for three years, before heading to Maheno and a sharemilking position.
It was while at Maheno that he learned about the importance of reliability of water. Poor reliability made farming "really hard going" and, while the economics of dairy farming there still stacked up, it was "damned hard work" to make it work.
When he moved to Duntroon in 2005, he "breathed a big sigh of relief", with a reliable water supply, and he was now involved in a mixed array of dairy-farming interests.
Asked the importance of irrigation to North Otago, Mr Ross said it was "key".
"North Otago probably doesn't exist without irrigation."
The climate was conducive to maintaining a controlled environment and he believed North Otago was probably one of the best places in the country to farm.
Looking forward, environmental aspects had to be considered and water had to be used well.
Embracing the use of modern technology, Mr Ross was able to make decisions based on the various data measured on his farm - everything from soil temperature and moisture to air temperature and wind.
"We're farming and making decisions on the basis of information gathered from our patch. That's essential to the way forward to using water."
He questioned what "tomorrow's production system" would be like, saying he suspected dairy cows would be around for a while, "but they won't be the only thing".
While still predominantly pasture-based for feeding his cows, Mr Ross was exploring other options, including trying a 3ha plot of maize this year, and he was also thinking about the use of lucerne.
Mr Ross has also become involved with various water/irrigation-related groups, including serving one term on the board of Irrigation New Zealand.
He is chairman of Waitaki Independent Irrigators Inc, which is made up of those irrigators with a resource consent to extract surface or groundwater from the lower Waitaki catchment for irrigation purposes; a director of the Waitaki Irrigators Collective (WIC); and a member of the Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Canterbury zone committee.
"It's been a really steep learning curve to go from someone being a hands-on farmer ... to having RMA [Resource Management Act] 101 force-fed to you over the course of five-six years."
But it had been an interesting time and he had met many good people. With the establishment of the WIC, there was structure and direction for the way forward.
The WIC is made up of five companies and Waitaki Independent Irrigators, which take water from the lower Waitaki River.
Together, those schemes and individuals irrigated an area of about 75,000ha across North Otago and South Canterbury, which is about 11.5% of irrigated land in New Zealand.
WIC chairman Fraser McKenzie, an Oamaru accountant, said irrigation was one of the most viable economic development opportunities that North Otago had.
Water could promote economic growth, it brought younger, more educated people into the district and was good for schools and services, such as the hospital, whose funding was population-based.
The district was facing population decline and irrigation was one way to arrest that, Mr McKenzie said.
North Otago also had a very reliable supply of water, which the rest of the South Island did not have. "It's all here."
There were challenges around the cost of irrigation - "no doubt about that" - but people were making it work.
There needed to be some work done around alternative land-uses, given the soil, climate and availability of water. Further processing brought in more people and more capital.
The resource of the Waitaki River could not be taken for granted and people had to accept that irrigation water was going to cost more in the future.
"The days of low water charges are really behind us now."
