Community Open Day sends a warm message despite chilly conditions

A bit of rain and steadily dropping temperatures wasn’t enough to deter the hardiest locals from joining BCI for a  community open day at the scheme’s Akarana storage pond on Friday 12th April. Warmed by a hot barista made coffee from one of two coffee carts, visitors had the opportunity to view this impressive piece of scheme infrastructure from a new vantage point.
The morning went off without a hitch, with visitors being shuttled from Barkers Road to the pond viewing site where the BCI and Irrigo team engaged and chatted with visitors and a slide show of images showing construction of the pond was playing. There were short speeches by BCI’s chair, Malcolm Cairns, General Manager, John Wright and Environmental Manager, Eva Harris.
A key message from the day focused on the importance of irrigation not just to our region, but to other rural communities in NZ. Having enthusiastic, well-educated young people excited about returning to family farms, or associated service sectors in town because of the opportunities irrigated agriculture presents, ensures our regions remain vibrant, and prevents the hollowing out of rural communities that is seen in many countries overseas.
As a scheme, BCI can play its part by undertaking strategic initiatives like Akarana to help manage the long terms costs of the water they deliver, which aids in ensuring the profitability of farming in the region. With a strong focus on investing in high quality intergenerational infrastructure, building the 1.5 million cubic meter Akarana Storage Pond has enhanced BCI’s operational efficiency and reduced reliance on on-demand pumping.
Stressing the point that operating a farming business intergenerationally goes hand in hand with operating sustainably, ensuring the land can continue to sustain farming businesses for generations to come, Environmental Commitment is another key strategic initiative for BCI. Practically this means supporting its shareholders to operate at industry agreed good management practice across their businesses, particularly regarding the application of irrigation water and associated nutrient discharge from their properties.