SFF Project Summary
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Last updated: 14 May 2010
Adapting to climate change in hill country Hawke’s Bay [939K PDF]
Project description
This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of relevant adaptations and approaches to adaptation in hill country Hawke's Bay. This will be used to develop a set of adaptation management systems for farmers and will serve to strengthen the work of Hawke's Bay Regional Council in encouraging land use management practices that protect valuable soil and water resources over time.
The issue/opportunity
This project takes the opportunity to work with smart farmers who were effective in managing the 2007 drought in order to:
- develop a detailed understanding of what practices lead to successful adaptation;
- examine and interpret successful management systems into new ways of thinking and acting that will be relevant to long-term adaptation in our summer dry eastern hill country environments.
The context
Hill country farming in Hawke's Bay is vulnerable to extreme weather whether it is drought or intense rainfall events and associated erosion and flooding problems. In general farmers are working more to the economic margins to make a living. This works in good years but creates real challenges when there is a drought, as experienced in 2007, combined with a period of low returns to farmers. With climate change drought and extreme storm events are likely to become more common. How farmers respond to these challenges over time will have a significant effect on the long-term sustainability of the environment and to the economic well being of both Hawke's Bay and New Zealand.
Methods
- Characterise four key climate zones and the climate of the five major water catchments in Hawke's Bay and the current economic climate in the region.
- Identify '20-30' smart farmers covering the four climate zones and five major water catchments and develop detailed case studies.
- Run focused workshops to deliver results and get further input from participants.
- Conduct detailed farm planning exercises for a select small number of farms.
- Draw the information together into realistic future scenarios for long-term sustainable management of hill country Hawke's Bay.
- Disseminate results through existing media and field days.
Latest update
Three main activities have been completed over the last three months:
- Two farm plans completed and work on the third one well underway. Farms chosen for development of farm plans and case studies are Mangarara Station (Central Hawke’s Bay), Williams Hill (Puketitiri), Taharoa Trust (Mahia Peninsula). Individually and together these farms provide excellent examples of issues being faced, and actions being taken by farmers.
- Four fact sheets have been prepared for publication, along with draft case studies of each of the three selected farms. This information forms the future scenario component of the project. Fact sheet topics are: Climate Change; Grazing Management; Water, Infrastructure, Trees; Farm Resilience for the Future. They contain information shared through the farmer interviews and workshop completed in July 2009. The Farm Resilience fact sheet also contains some summary information drawn from previous adaptation work, including past SFF projects.
- Preparation work for three field days has begun. These field days are scheduled for 11 March (Williams Hill), 28 April (Taharoa Trust), 10 June (Mangarara Station). If you are interested to attend any of the field days, please contact Dr Gavin Kenny, gavinkenny@clear.net.nz
Update
There have been two main activities during this project quarter. The first was a workshop with farmers who had been interviewed earlier in the project; the second was the development of detailed case studies.
The workshop was held on 30 July at the Havelock North Community Centre. Participants included 16 farmers, 3 project team members, 1 SFF advisor, 2 Hawke’s Bay Regional Council staff, 2 NIWA staff, and 2 observers. The primary purpose of this workshop was to present a summary of findings from farmer interviews (available for download on the SFF website) and to promote discussion among farmers relating to key questions arising from the interviews. There was also an opportunity for interaction with participating NIWA staff to discuss climate change science and seasonal forecasting. Outcomes from the workshop have been collated.
Three farms were identified from the 20 interviewees for development of in-depth case studies. They are from Central Hawke’s Bay, Hastings District and Wairoa; the three areas covered by interviews. Field work for development of farm plans has been completed on two of the farms and the report has been written for one. Completion of the farm plans has been delayed by time taken to receive draft maps back from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
The project has been featured in a Countrywide article http://www.country-wide.co.nz/article/10976.html and on Rural Delivery http://tvnz.co.nz/rural-delivery/s2009-e26-video-2997596
Update
The project has progressed well over the last three months, with a primary focus on completing farmer interviews.
The project team has interviewed a total of 20 farmers from Central Hawke's Bay to Wairoa. Farmers were asked to provide basic information on their farm, current climate risks and what they have put in place to deal with them, future climate risks and what they would do differently if anything, and information and support that they think is needed. There was a specific focus on drought, but also questions asked about other climate risks such as extreme rainfall events.
Collectively the farmers have shared a lot of valuable information. This information hasn't been processed as yet, which will be the main focus over the next couple of months. It is apparent that there are some common responses to past and present extremes as well as different options that various farmers are exploring for the future.
Update
The first phase of this project has involved three key activities.
The first involved fine-tuning of the work programme and schedule. Secondly, preliminary work has been completed to characterise the key climate zones and effects of climate change in Hawke's Bay. To-date this has involved discussions within the project team and transfer of relevant climate and climate change data from NIWA to Hawke's Bay Regional Council. These data will be combined with land use zones that have been defined for the region. Finally, eight Central Hawke's Bay farmers have been identified for in-depth interviews on adaptation. These will be completed in the week of 10-14 November. A set of interview questions have been developed and a trial interview was completed on 30 October.
The focus over coming months will be to complete farmer interviews throughout Hawke's Bay and to complete the work on climate zones. Information on the economic climate will also be brought together.
