This topic was an interesting one for me as while there are a lot of climate change issues I think sometimes we classify something as a climate change issue when its not? Is it just greed?
I live in Canterbury province in New Zealand and this primarily a crop growing area and sheep. The ground years ago was a river bed and is dry and in parts stony. However in recent years more and more dairying businesses have appeared. Why is this happening when in the Waikato and Southland they have the perfect wet and heavy ground which works well for dairy. In fact we have some of the highest cows per acre/hectare in in these areas due to the land and our climate!
I think it is greed and that the land can be purchased a lot more cheaply in Canterbury than the other two areas. AS a result we now have trains of irrigators across the land. AS I was driving south yesterday down to Central Otago ( a must drive by the way because of the scenery!) I counted the parts on one of the irrigator trains to be at least 30! These are sucking water from the earth and putting it back for the cows.
In a modern way I have captured the irrigators over our lush green pasture spraying water constantly to irrigate the land
Love your artwork! The story of the ‘irrigator trains’ is so interesting, though I wonder and worry about the local lands. The worldwide transitions, while necessary in most cases, are changing the way we live, and our animals too! Thank you Catherine – I learned a lot here!
With us you also occasionally see the large arches over the land for watering. As with you, the Netherlands also has too many cows and a large manure surplus. We share the problems that arise from it.