Long-term climate variability in Waikato and Manawatu: Have pasture growth, performance, and resilience conditions changed?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2025.87.3736

Abstract

  • Available climate data (1940-2024) from Palmerston North, Grasslands and Hamilton, Ruakura weather stations show a strong warming trend across all seasons.
  • Rainfall, while highly variable, remains largely unchanged throughout the same period, however due to increased temperatures, a general trend of greater drought severity and duration has emerged.
  • Severe summer droughts have become the defining feature of the New Zealand pastoral growing season.
  • Farm resilience to drought has been diminished by structural and operational changes since the 1990s, leading to an amplified perception of drought intensity, which is compounded by underlying climatic changes.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2025-11-07

How to Cite

Tait-Jamieson, E., Donaghy, D., Cartmill, A., & Proctor, J. (2025). Long-term climate variability in Waikato and Manawatu: Have pasture growth, performance, and resilience conditions changed?. Journal of New Zealand Grasslands, 87, 323–333. https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2025.87.3736

Issue

Section

Volume 87 (2025)

Categories