Normandien farmer gauges water status quo

Local pecan farmer, Craig Petersen has responded to a series of questions posed by the Advertiser, to provide insight into the effect of the drought and subsequent rains on agriculture.

February 27, 2017

Bruce Douglas 2 minutes read

Pecan farmer, Craig Petersen is one of many affected by the water crisis.

NORMANDIEN – Recent rains have been heaven-sent for residents in the area.

Despite hundreds of millimetres over the past few months, sluice gates of the Chelmsford/ Ntshingwayo Dam remain closed.

It is evident more rainfall is required before the crisis is truly over.

Local pecan farmer, Craig Petersen has responded to a series of questions posed by the Advertiser, to provide insight into the effect of the drought and subsequent rains on agriculture.

In his words, farmers were generally very sensitive to water usage.

“[They] would have reduced domestic and agricultural usage to a minimum.”

On Mr Petersen’s farm, Norseland, which is a few kilometres outside town towards Normandien, a borehole was used for domestic requirements.

Yet even the underground water suffered the drought.

“The levels were dropping at an alarming rate with my neighbour’s even running dry.”

To counter fears his own borehole would peter out, Mr Petersen ran piping from an old quarry on the farm which filled with drinking water.

This was done purely as a precaution.

From a crop perspective, he said local farmers adapted planting patterns and varied the level of planting to try and match the anticipated rainfall.

“The well-below average rainfall over the last three years has been very challenging from a pecan tree orchard perspective, and we have lost a large number of young trees as a result thereof.”

Mr Petersen said even a 15 000 litre water tanker truck was not sufficient without supplementation by good rains.

For this reason, he planted no trees in the 2015 season.

While dams were filling and the grass grew green, Mr Petersen cautioned the groundwater was still severely depleted as evidenced by the lack of springs and low borehole levels.

However, weather experts agree there will be above average rainfall at the end of the season.

“This will certainly help to restore some groundwater but may pose a problem for crop farmers, as the lands may be too muddy to get harvesting machinery in.”

Read full story in the Newcastle Advertiser newspaper.

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