Dairying

I was born and raised on the Taieri and am proud to say that I still live overlooking the valley.

Dairy farms are still top of the agenda for three companies who want to develop them in the Omarama and Ohau areas - if they can get water approved.

Milton sharemilkers Nathan and Deborah Erskine were last night named Otago sharemilkers of the year at the Otago Dairy Industry Awards in Balclutha.

The bid by a Chinese-owned Hong Kong-listed company to invest $NZ1.5 billion in New Zealand's dairy industry has triggered a call by farmers for the Government to put together a coherent strategy on food production and investment in that sector.

Opponents of intensive dairy farming in the Omarama and Ohau areas were yesterday claiming a victory, but warning the war was not yet over.

Dairy farms proposed for the Omarama and Ohau areas were "a world-class proposal" which was a victim of misinformation, the three companies behind the development said yesterday.

The Waitaki District Council still faces a High Court challenge to resource consents and compliance certificates it issued last year for 16 new dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas.

Three companies planning 16 dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas are withdrawing from a Government-instigated resource consents process that could have cost them more than $3 million.

No appeals have been received on the resource consents granted for the proposed $90 million Oceania Dairy milk-processing plant near Glenavy, with the appeal period ending this week.

The Waitaki District Council is being taken to the High Court over its decision to grant approval for 16 proposed dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas without notifying them for the public to comment.

Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin hopes development and production of a new tool to measure runoff from land could be complete within two years.

Waitaki First is taking a cautious approach to possible alternatives to 16 new dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas being proposed by three companies.

The Environment Canterbury hearings process to decide on crucial water for 16 new dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas will continue, despite the Government calling in effluent resource consent applications and handing them to a board of inquiry to consider.

Millions of dollars have already been poured into properties in the Omarama-Ohau areas which two development companies want to turn into nine dairy farms housing up to 10,850 cows.