BEFORE THE BOARD OF INQUIRY IN THE MATTER of the Resource Management Act 1991 ( the Act ) AND IN THE MATTER of a Board of Inquiry appointed under section 149J of the Resource Management Act 1991 to consider Plan Change 6 to the Hawke's Bay Regional Plan ("Plan Change or PC6") and Resource consent applications and a notice of requirement to enable the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme ("Storage Scheme" or "Scheme"), together, the "Proposal" STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE BY GRAHAM EDGAR BARTLEET FOR HORTICULTURE NEW ZEALAND 8 OCTOBER 2013 Helen Atkins PO Box 1585 Shortland Street AUCKLAND 1140 Solicitor on the record Helen Atkins Helen.Atkins@ahjmlaw.com (09) 304 0421
CONTENTS 1. PURPOSE... 1 2. BASE INFORMATION... 1 3. ROTATION... 1 4. CROPS GROWN... 2 5. IRRIGATION... 2 6. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES... 2 7. ECONOMIC INFORMATION... 2 8. CONCLUSION... 3
1 1. PURPOSE 1.1 My name is Graham Edgar Bartleet. I am the Viticulture Manager for Pernod Ricard s operations in Hawke s Bay. I have held this position for Pernod Ricard in Hawke s Bay for five years. Prior to that I worked as a viticulturalist for Pernod Ricard for eight years. 1.2 Prior to that I worked for Villa Maria Estate as a viticulurist for 10 years in the Hawke s Bay region. I have a Bachelor of Horticulture from Massey University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Wine from Roseworthy College in Adelaide, Australia. 1.3 I am providing this evidence based on my factual experience working for Pernod Ricard and other winegrowing operations in Hawke s Bay. 2. BASE INFORMATION Area of growing operation in Tukituki catchment: Number of properties/sites that it is undertaken on: Ownership of sites owned/ leased/ shared: General location in Hawke s Bay: 38 Ha in lower Tukituki 1 1 in the target catchment Leased Water zone location: Zone 2 Number of staff employed: Heretaunga Plains 3 Full time staff Plus approx. 5.5 FTE employed on a contract/casual basis. 3. ROTATION 3.1 There is no set rotation period for wine grapes. If they retain healthy characteristics and are still fit for market, we are likely to retain the planting for as long as possible. 1 There are other properties that exist outside the target catchment
2 4. CROPS GROWN 4.1 Grape varieties for wine production consists of Chardonnay. The approx. 280t of Chardonnay fruit produced each year supplies a number of Hawke s Bay wine brands. 5. IRRIGATION 5.1 A combination of drip irrigation and travelling irrigator are used to irrigate vines. There is an approximately 4 megalitre dam that services Frost protection and travelling irrigator water where required. The vineyard has one well on the property that supplies drip irrigation water and water supply to the dam. 6. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES 6.1 We are fully accredited members of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand and have been since we have been managing the vineyard. 7. ECONOMIC INFORMATION 7.1 Attached to this case study is a graph showing our actual water use for the 2012-3 season. We have looked at the different flow scenarios in the graph to see what the effect would have been on our existing operation under the new low flow conditions. 7.2 Basically, on the proposed final low flows (5200 4300 L second). We would have been restricted from pumping water from the well for 59 days. Our dam would have kept us supplied with water for two weeks, after which we would have had no access to water to maintain the crop and vines. 7.3 The effect of this scenario would have been to suffer deterioration of the crop quality and yield to the point that we would have potentially achieved no crop for the 2013 season. There would be damage potential for the next year s crop as well, with considerable likelihood of vine death.
3 8. CONCLUSION 8.1 It is my opinion that any flow regime implemented should seek to maintain our existing level of reliability of water supply, or at least provide certainty that the new regime will be able to accommodate the existing use from our land. In the circumstance where we would have unreliable water access for our existing operation we would need to seriously consider our options including moving our operation from the existing Tukituki site. Graham Bartleet 8 October 2013