Work on freshwater in Southland is a nationwide first – Rachael Kelly:
Stewart Bull says he loses his mana when he has to tell visitors to his Takutai o Te Tītī Marae not to eat the kai moana.
“I don’t collect kai moana off the beach any more, at this stage. I know what’s going on, and I advise my children not to go and collect it either.
“It’s not good to stand on your marae and go ‘don’t touch the kai moana’…where is your mana if you have to stand on your own marae and express that to your visitors who are coming in?’’
For Bull, it’s about ki uta ki tai, from the mountains to the sea. . .
Cherry pickers lose $350 a day jobs – Jared Morgan:
The $50 million loss incurred by Central Otago’s cherry growers this season impacts growers, jobs and the New Zealand economy.
Summerfruit NZ chief executive Richard Palmer said the full extent of the damage after four days of persistent and heavy rain was yet to be quantified but it was expected up to 50% of the season’s cherries had been lost due to splitting, resulting in the loss of $50million in export revenue to the country.
In addition to damaged fruit, flooding caused damage to buildings on orchards located around Earnscleugh when the Fraser River broke its banks.
Orchardists in the area said the losses were tempered by the fact flood waters receded, quickly allying fears other crops had been affected. . .
Bid to stop 1080 drop in Hawke’s Bay fails in court – Tom Kitchin:
A legal challenge to stop a 1080 drop on Māori land in Hawke’s Bay has failed.
The Māori Land Court has released its ruling on the legal fight following a hearing in Hastings.
Tataraakina is a 14,000 hectare block in inland Hawke’s Bay, near the highway between Napier and Taupō.
Tataraakina is managed by an ahu whenua trust, led by trustee Clinton Hemana, and has 1143 owners. . .
The strange reason New Zealand is in the midst of a national oat milk shortage – Glenn McConnell:
Rumblings of an oat milk shortage first reached Stuff early in the New Year. Trendy café goers reported their local vegan-friendly baristas had run dry on their favourite plant-based milk.
It was a coffee crisis, and the outlook was gloomy. Would they revert to cow’s milk? Drink an overly sweet flat white with coconut milk? Or indulge in the increasingly uncool almond milk latte?
Oat milk is the up and coming among the milk alternatives. Almond remains popular, but has lost fans due to environmental concerns. The demand for almonds has caused honeybee catastrophe in the US, as California summons more than half of the country’s bees to pollinate its almond trees. The journey reportedly costs the lives of a quarter of the bees, due to pesticides and disease.
Oat is The Goat. But due to an unusually elongated supply chain for New Zealand, and unexpected rise in the popularity of oat milk, it has recently proved hard to find. . .
Heiko Wittmer: NZ lessons to be learnt from pumas and wolves – Emile Donovan:
Lessons from how pumas and wolves interact in North America can be applied here in New Zealand, as we strive towards a predator-free 2050.
Dr Heiko Wittmer has looked at what happened when wolves were reintroduced to Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The wolves had a negative effect on the pumas in the park and that led to a much more balanced ecosystem.
Heiko tells Summer Times that despite being a large and wild park, it had lost its wolf population due to culling in the early 20th century.
“Since then they have been missing and that has led to some drastic changes in the ecosystem.” . .
It’s urgent we act on declining water storage, scientists warn – Shan Goodwin:
INTERNATIONAL scientists have highlighted the urgent need for mitigation to avoid water storage declines and increased droughts and the big role farmers in Australia, particular in the south, stand to play in that.
By the end of this century, the global land area and population living in extreme-to-exceptional drought could more than double, research directed from Michigan State University in the United States has found.
The stark warning emerged from the extensive study, which also points to the largest water declines being in Australia and South America.
The key implication is that climate change mitigation is now critical to avoid adverse water storage impacts and increased droughts, and the need for improved water resource management and adaptation is pressing. . .
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