Murray Valentine certainly does not fit the image of someone intent on destroying the environment in the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin.
The Murray Valentine portrayed by critics of the dairy farm he is building on Simons Pass Station near Lake Pukaki is an uncaring, heartless capitalist, devoid of any ethics who plans to milk 15,000 cows on the most environmentally sensitive land in the South Island.
The Murray Valentine who occupies an orderly but busy office in Dunedin’s central city is genial, reserved, studied, methodical and who, true to his accountancy profession, makes decisions on fact not emotion.
He is not going to milk 15,000 cows on Simons Pass.
Valentine has a long, successful business history with investments in tourism, poultry and agriculture, through which he has managed to stay out of the public eye.
The Simons Pass investment required exceptional tolerance during the six years it took to get the required resource consents and at the inaccuracy of some of the claims critics levelled at him and his plans.
That tolerance extends to a letter or poster delivered to his offices last week by those protesting against his dairy development, which has messages and accusations scribbled all over it.
He accepts their right to protest and to have a point of view and intends responding to their claims.
“They are entitled to their views and I take their views seriously but they are wrong if they think I am going to destroy the Mackenzie.”
Of the 800,000ha in the Upper Waitaki catchment, about 250,000ha is flat to rolling country that can be farmed. There is sufficient water allocated to irrigate about 25,000ha.
Valentine’s plans, which have never been a secret, are to irrigate 4500ha.
“Not many people who oppose me, I believe, have read the consent.”
Valentine said critics demand he rip up his consents but that is not an option given the long, drawn-out process to secure them, dating back to soon after 2004 purchase of the property by his family trust.
He now has all the consents needed and started milking 800 cows this season.
That will progressively grow over seven years to about 5000 cows through three sheds.
Forty centre pivots will irrigate the 4500ha, of which about 1500ha will be the dairy platform. The rest will be dairy support, dairy-cross beef finishing and a halfbred sheep breeding unit.
Valentine said Simons Pass will be a closed unit worked in conjunction with a 2000-cow dairy farm he owns in North Otago.
He has made several significant and costly concessions including agreeing to control weeds and pests on 2500ha of ecologically-significant land he set aside for conservation as part of his irrigation consent.
The retired land dissects his farm in a large S shape and Valentine will protect it with 30km of rabbit fencing at a cost of $11.50 a metre.
A further 1300ha of land closest to Lake Pukaki was retired to the Crown under a tenure review agreement.
Opponents claim there are rare black stilt birds on the farm but Valentine says in the 15 years he has owned it and 26 years his manager has been on the farm they have not seen one.
“I’m not saying there are no black stilts in the area but I’ve never seen any.”
His consent requires annual monitoring of water quality at his boundary.
He intends doing it monthly to ensure he gets an accurate picture of the quality of water leaving the property and can respond quickly to any issues.
Technology measuring irrigation rates, soil moisture and the weather will help decision-making while drones will monitor the centre pivots and stock troughs.
Water for the small area of irrigation the previous owners and neighbour had consent for came from the Maryburn Stream but Valentine has invested $8 million in an 8km pipe delivering water from the Tekapo hydroelectric canal to his boundary, allowing the Maryburn consent to be retired.
“I believe I have shown enough responsibility on the conservation side. I am not shirking my responsibility.”
Valentine’s explanation for why he wants to convert Simons Pass to dairying is consistent with an accountant’s methodical, calculated process and sheets back to the reality the Mackenzie’s dry summers limit farming options.
“The limiting factor is 500mm of rain in the Mackenzie and most of it comes in the spring, winter and autumn. During the growing season there is no rain.”
And there is another issue.
The invasive weed hieracium is encroaching over much of the basin, killing tussock and causing soil loss through erosion.
Photos taken on Simons Pass in the 1970s showed tussock at hip height but 20 years later the weed has rendered the land barren.
“Most people would describe it as a desert.”
Cultivation and fertiliser in recent years have restored vegetative cover.
Valentine intends completing his Simons Pass conversion and said groups with polarised opinions are not unusual during such debates.
Both sides want similar outcomes but approach via different routes and expectations.
“Somewhere in the middle we could come to an agreement if both parties are prepared to meet in the middle.
“But I cannot get agreement with any of these groups on these things.”
