The Country 13/05/25: Greig Taylor talks to Jamie Mackay

We catch up with a Hawke's Bay orchardist to learn more about an intense fight between the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and farmers/growers, over a water allocation document called Tank. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, they reckon wars in the twenty first century will
be fought over water rather than oil. Well, it's happening
in the Hawks Bay at the moment, where a group
called the Heretongua Sustainable Water Group is having a good
old fashioned scrap with the Hawks Bay Regional Council. Now
quite rightly, these apple growers are saying the government wants

(00:20):
them to double their current exports, but they can't do
it with the current severe water restrictions and orchard's orchardous
should I say? And the Hawks Bay are already exporting
one billion dollars worth of product a year. Okay. The
spokesman on the show today is Greg Taylor. Greg, you
need Chane Jones to ride in the town and build
you a dam.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
That's one element of it, Jamie, And he's thankfully already
been to town and offered us some support. But listen,
storage is a long way off. So that's just one
of the one of the goals of our group.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
So why is the Hawks Bay Regional Council threatening to
cut some of your water take?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, listen, this is a well worn pass started back
into their fifteen so a decad's worth a sort of
non agreement now so under the National Policy Statement for
Fresh Order Management a PLANCHI chain, it was issued to
address our water quality and quantity. But this has now
resulted in mediation process which unfortunately failed to resolve too

(01:19):
much at all, and the matter is now put before
the Environment Court.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Currently, is there enough water to go around? And are
you guys damaging water qualities? The Hawks Bay Regional Council
got a fair argument here.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yes there is enough order to go around Jamie in
our view, and no we're not damaging the water. This
is very much a community issue and producers, not just
apple grows, We want to see fair and reasonable takes
so that their operation can continue, they can continue to
employ people and be part of a successful local economy.

(01:54):
I don't see damaging water at all as being on
the table, And in terms of there being enough water,
we simply have a paper over allocation. So we're arguing
around the methodology of how we will reduce that take
and I think most people would agree that we do
have to see a reduction in the consented water volume.

(02:15):
But how we do that that's that issue.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
So are you in a dead luck with the regional
Council at the moment. How do you fast forward this thing?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
No, So the group lobby for a pause in the
renewal of consense process. So consents that have been expiring
over the last six or seven years have been placed
on pause while this issue was resolved. But then recently
the regulator decided that they would continue to process these

(02:43):
consents despite the issue not being resolved. We were able
to lobby them and are very grateful that they yielded
and have given us a pause pending the outcome of
the Environment Court ruling. So that's given us some time
and we want to use that time to galvanize our thinking,

(03:04):
get some collective collective action. Going collaboratively. Collective faction should
result in some bare outcomes, and we want to promote
push those forward.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Well, I hope, So good luck with that. Just a
quick final word on your apple growing season. It's been
a good one and you needed it.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, it is over, Jerry Jamie. We've had three or
four pretty tough years on the trot with a cyclone
thrown in as well, So yeah, we're very pleased. Harvest
just finished on Friday for us, and yeah, we're very
pleased with the volume and the quality of apples that
have come off, looking forward to closing out the season
and being successful.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
One Well, I love this time of year, Greg Taylor,
when we get great hawks by apples, in fact, in
z apples, in our supermarkets and greengrosses. It's a fantastic
time of year to enjoy a wonderful product. Thanks for
your time, Good luck getting some water.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Thanks Jamie, I think we'll need it. Cheers,