Examination of the future for pastoral farming in the Upper Hurunui Catchment

Abstract

Pastoral farming in the South Island High Country is under pressure from many forces, among them alternative land uses and an uncertain economic climate. This study, based on the Upper Hurunui Catchment in Canterbury, looks at a method of evaluating the effect such pressures might have.

The study first reviews the physical resources of the study area and then represents the area as a number of land units arranged into land systems, following the approach of Christian (1957). Representative land units are then chosen and for each of these the response to pastoral development is estimated.

Existing use experience is analysed together with an appraisal of land tenure, Government and local body policy and social aspirations. The information gained is used to define likely land utilisation types after the approach of Beek (1978).

The culmination of the study is the drawing together of the physical resource data and of the land utilisation types to formulate land use systems, and the assembly of land use systems into land use patterns. A land use pattern represents a series of land use systems such as is found in a single pastoral farming enterprise.

The introduction of a new land utilisation type, either, pastoral or non-pastoral, into a land unit means a new land use system is created and at the aggregate level, a new land use pattern. The land use patterns can be compared as a useful tool for land use evaluation.