Ashburton Courier: March 12, 2020

Page 2, Ashburton's The Courier, Thursday March 12, 2020
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Sunflowers bloom as niche crop
By Toni Williams
Turley Farms Chertsey is among
agrowing number of farms
turning to sunflowers as a
rotation crop to use between
plantings.
Sunflowers are good for high
oleic sunflower oil, which is high
in oleic (monounsaturated) acid
(at least 80 per cent), and good
as afrying oil. It also has agood
shelf life and is used in infant
formula.
The farm group, which has
properties scattered throughout
Canterbury, has planted more
than 40 hectares of sunflowers at
the Chertsey site. There are
62,000 sunflower plants per
hectare.
Turley Farms’ Roger Lasham
said around Mid Canterbury
there are around 250 hectares of
sunflowers growing for the
processor Pure Oil NZ.
‘‘These are our catch crop. It’s
always good to have aniche to
fill the gap.’’
Turley Farms used the same
model as last year, planting the
sunflowers on land vacated by
peas.
They were planted on
December 11 and are about 1.4m
tall. While they are slightly
smaller than last season, the
flowers are full of seed.
At harvest, just the heads are
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Turley Farms’ Roger Lasham inspects the sunflowers planted at the farm’s Chertsey property.
sent for processing with Pure Oil
NZ, which supplies two bottled
products to the domestic market;
rape oil and sunflower oil.
Both are good for cooking and
as dipping oils. They are
available in supermarkets
nationwide.
Bulk oil was also sent
overseas.
The Chertsey site was used as
Fog cannons help
Two fog cannons to deter
robbers have beeninstalled in
Ashburton under a special
crime prevention initiative.
Some523 fog cannons have
been installed around the
country in small businesses
like dairies, liquor stores and
petrol stations and now Government
has announcedfunding
for another 470.
Shop owners at risk of
crime are encouraged to
apply, and may pay no more
than $250.
Police Minister Stuart Nash
said 40 cannons had already
been installed inCanterbury,
with two in Ashburton.
Cannons emit a cloud of
vapour and a high­pitched
noise to deter offenders and
allow workers to escape.
He said fog cannons were
having amarked impact and
commercial aggravated robberies
were at their lowest
level infive years.
‘‘Many robberies are fuelled
by a desire for a quick
buck to feed a drug habit.
Wastewater analysis indicates
that methamphetamine use
has fallen by 17 per centinthe
first full year of nationwide
testing. It’s stillearly days,but
it’s headed in the right direction.’’
Funding for expanding the
scheme will come from the
Proceeds ofCrime Fund but
not all businesses are eligible.
Owners apply to police, who
do an assessment based on
risk, past robberies and crime
in the area.
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atrial crop farm after high oleic
sunflower was identified as a
potential option for growers in
2017, and aFood Products for
the Future project, funded by
Foundation for Arable Research
and Ministry for Primary
Industries Sustainable Farming
Fund.
They used the hybrid
sunflower varieties, Idillic and
2128195
Your LocalVoice
I’m available to meet with
constituents onMondays and
Fridays, and anyday that Parliament
isn’t sitting. Contact my office in
Timaru or Ashburton tomake an
appointment to meet orspeak with
me. Ialso hold constituency clinics in
other towns across the region.
Andrew Falloon
MP for Rangitata
Timaru Office AshburtonOffice
139Stafford Street, 81 Harrison Street,
Timaru
Ashburton
03 6831386
03 3087510
andrewfalloonforrangitata
rangitatamp@parliament. .govt.nz
Authorised by Andrew Falloon MP,
139 Stafford St, Timaru.
Baltic.
The sunflower hybrids were
stingy on the use of nitrogen and
only needed light watering.
They reach maturity between
90 to 120 days and are alow
input option.
Mr Lasham said the biggest
threat to the sunflowers so far
was bird damage at the final
stages.
Fish dead in stream
Several hundred fish have been
found dead and dying in a
stockwater race at Mt Somers.
Environment Canterbury is
investigating and has taken water
samples from four points along
the race, which runs along
Ashburton Gorge Road. They
have been sent for testing.
The dead fish included smelt,
trout, native kokopu, koura,
freshwater bully and tuna (eel).
Ashburton Water Zone
manager Janine Holland said two
staff investigated the situation on
Monday.
‘‘At this stage, we cannot
speculate on the cause of the
contamination. But we
encourage people in the
community who may have seen
something that could have
contributed to the contamination
of the stockwater race to contact
Environment Canterbury.’’
She said the regional council
would report back to the
community when it had more
information.
Mt Somers resident Jeremy
Hunter said he called authorities
after discovering dead fish in the
race that ran through his
property on Sunday morning.
Neighbours also found dead fish
in their pond.
He said it looked as if the fish
had been poisoned and there
were more dead fish further
upstream and almost to the
intake near Stony Creek.