Irrigation New Zealand CEO Andrew Curtis spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay today about the contentious issue of paying water royalties for commercial irrigation use.
Curtis says farmers already pay the same as urbanites for their water usage because of the associated infrastructure costs and therefore should not be charged for royalties. On top of this there are extra expenses such as the irrigation equipment and its maintenance costs.
Finally Curtis says rates on irrigated properties are higher because of higher land values so farmers pay here as well.
Andrew and Jamie discuss the possible cause of this interest in royalties and whether the catalyst is foreign companies bottling New Zealand water and profiting from it.
Have a listen to the full interview in the audio clip above.
