Growers simply enter their address, and the app generates a colour-coded suitability rating that integrates long-term climate, economic conditions, yield potential, and soil data to guide crop selection \u2013 assuming water access is available.<\/p>\n
Greer said he was excited about the app and he hoped it would help farmers affected by McCain and Wattie\u2019s reducing their vegetable processing operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe map is coming out at a time when it is apparent how important land diversification is for everyone\u2019s bottom line,\u201d Greer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the big croppers have got their heads down at the moment, but they\u2019re croppers from old, so they\u2019ll find something else to grow and if the app helps them, that would be great,\u201d Greer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crop Suitability Map is like a treasure map to help landowners find their gold.\u201d <\/p>\n
A snapshot of the Crop Suitability Map. Growers can pick their crop, and the colours indicate suitability: dark grey is unsuitable, yellow low, light green medium, and bright green high. There are 16 crops to select from. <\/p>\n
He said the district needed some form of water security.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been going down this track for some time now. If you\u2019re going to grow high-value crops, you need security of water.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crop Suitability Map project was led by the council\u2019s economic growth manager, Libby Tosswill.<\/p>\n
She said two things triggered the idea for the app.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was aware of the data supermarket and the land use work that had been done as part of the national science challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t easy for landowners, investors and growers to access because you need GIS expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen last year, I saw that the Central Economic Development Agency, (CEDA) had mapped it for Manawat\u016b,\u201d Tosswill said.<\/p>\n
She met with CEDA and as the council has GIS capability in-house, they decided to build the tool for Central Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n
She said it was a great win for ratepayers as there was no cost involved, only staff time.<\/p>\n
Tosswill\u2019s goal was for the council to support landowners in exploring how to optimise their land and diversify its use.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wear two hats, one of which is helping to grow the district\u2019s economy and the second is that as a farmer, I understand what landowners are looking for to help them plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil is filling an information void with an information highway, in an easy-to-use digital tool,\u201d Tosswill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe climate is changing and what can be grown here is changing too. This tool utilises data that captures that so that we can plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Central Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s primary sector contributes 32% of the district\u2019s GDP, \u201cbut we know there is still unlocked potential here\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said growers were always looking for the best use for their land and market opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a science-backed snapshot of what\u2019s possible to diversify and optimise land use.\u201d<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growers simply enter their address, and the app generates a colour-coded suitability rating that integrates long-term climate, economic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43780,160310,12967,13840,23226,130,117,111,43,139,69,44625,35446,61,6305,58228],"class_list":["post-420090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-chb","tag-crops","tag-farmers","tag-like","tag-map","tag-more","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-points","tag-profitable","tag-to","tag-tool","tag-treasure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}