The iwi’s farming group had transformed part of the old Balmoral Forest over the past two years but it wouldn’t be milking, Ngai Tahu Farming chief executive Andrew Priest said.
The iwi had already transformed Eyrewell Forest on the north bank of the Waimakariri River, (Te Whenua Hou) into dairy farms and drystock units.
In 2016, 360 hectares of land at the west of the Balmoral block was put into irrigated pasture and was now being used for beef finishing.
Over the next 18 months, a further 870 hectares of previously-cleared land beside State Highway 7 would have irrigation installed, Priest said.
“At this time we expect that this will be used for a combination of beef finishing (at a stocking rate of four animals a hectare) and dairy support.
“There are no plans to use any of the land as a milking platform.”
Water was being supplied from the farmer-owned Amuri Irrigation.
The nutrient allocation as part of the Hurunui-Waiau sub-regional plan was enough to develop about 30% of the property into irrigated grassland, depending on land use.
Ngai Tahi had no immediate plans for further development, Priest said.
Last year, Ngai Tahu Farming rural development manager Rhys Narbey said part of the conversion was an “irrigated pilot farm”.
The area was chosen for its proximity to the existing water canal, which was part of the Amuri scheme irrigating more than 20,000 hectares from the Hurunui and Waiau rivers.
The Ngai Tahu land had been sitting in a cut-over state for about five years and its location near the canal made it an ideal spot to start development, Narbey said.
Stage 2, from 2023 to 2033, would see the extension of completed water pipelines to enable the development of a further 1950 hectares of irrigated farmland, as forest trees were harvested.
Stage 3, from 2025 to 2033, would convert another 2300 hectares into irrigated farmland once trees were harvested.
“We expect the majority of the area would be farmed in irrigated pastoral systems like those we run at Te Whenua Hou – mainly focusing on beef finishing but we’re also open to other farming systems,” Narbey said.
