Good environmental management

For MGI, environmental care isn't about doing the minimum or just meeting consent conditions. It's about avoiding harm. It's about recognising that productive farms and healthy rivers aren't competing interests, they're completely linked.

Water management here is treated as a shared responsibility. The irrigation company, the farmers, and the wider community are all in it together, working toward the same goal: a landscape that works for everyone, now and for generations to come.

Putting money where it matters

Since 2017, the MGI and WDI Environmental Fund has put around $135,000 directly into the hands of farmers and community groups working on projects that improve the local environment.

On farms across the scheme, irrigation systems are being upgraded to fixed-grid setups that use less water and work better on steep country. It's about doing more with less, and making sure the water that is used counts.

Getting stuck in at the catchment level

The Waihao-Wainono Catchment Community Group brings together farmers, locals, and anyone who cares about the river to tackle the big issues, water quality, river health, and sharing what actually works.

One major project is dealing with crack willows choking the Waihao River. These invasive trees suck up water, dump decomposing leaves that wreck water quality, and block the river channel, increasing flood risk. The group's long-term removal programme is clearing them out while keeping some trees for shade and balance, restoring natural flows, improving water quality, and reducing flood danger.

More than just clean water

Environmental work here goes beyond ticking boxes. Native plants are going in along river corridors. Public access and recreation spots are being enhanced. Community planting days bring farmers, residents, and professional planters together to strengthen the connection between people and the river.

It's about biodiversity. It's about the places kids grow up exploring. It's about making sure the Waihao and Wainono Lagoon are healthier in twenty years than they are now.