Research centre for region

Minister Steven Joyce said the government would work with regional groups to identify the best opportunities. Photo / Paul Taylor

A $25 million budget allocation for new regional research institutes could be used to help establish an irrigation research centre in Hawke's Bay, an industry group says.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said the government would work with regional groups to identify the best opportunities to develop new regional research institutes and had allocated funding from the 2016/17 year to support "best case" proposals.

"The proposed new research institutes would support innovation in regional areas outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by maximising the unique business, technology, and economic growth opportunities in a region," he said.

Andrew Curtis, chief executive of Irrigation New Zealand, said the funding could provide an opportunity to develop science and research on "cutting edge irrigation technology".

"With the growing importance of irrigation in New Zealand, the establishment of a knowledge and innovation centre in the irrigation space would be of huge benefit," he said.

Hawke's Bay farmers and orchardists are already big users of irrigation and the proposed Ruataniwha water storage scheme in Central Hawke's Bay would increase its significance in the region.

Mr Curtis said: "There's a lot of irrigation expertise in the Hawke's Bay region and a wide variety of crops that are grown there so it would be a good place to look at specialist research around that."

Hawke's Bay Regional Council Chairman Fenton Wilson said the idea made sense.

"Certainly if Ruataniwha gets across the line, with its 2500 new jobs, why couldn't some of them be around innovation and technology demonstration in the form of better means of delivering water and irrigation?"