Plan Change Submissions.

Some interesting news of note.

The MDC have published the submissions on the proposed rule change for frost fans.

While I would like to say that they make interesting reading, at over 200 pages of text, it will take me a few days to go through them.

There are some interesting details that have caught my eye however.

Casting a glance over the list of submitters, there are a good range of the usual suspects. I.e those who have been vocal in the past from one side or the other, but there are a few interesting new players showing their interest.

For instance;

The Nelson Marlborough Public Health Service

Richard Karn (for those not in the know, I recommend a quick trip to Google)

and last but not least

The Marlborough District Council

I don't know about you, but I didn't know that you could put in a submission on a plan change that you had proposed in the first place. But hey, I'm sure they have some interesting things to say, so why not?

So where to get hold of these gems?

Click here for part 1 (4.8MB)

Click here for part 2 (3.6MB)

And if you want to go to a page where there are a few other links to some more info (including making a submission on submissions!) go here.

Enjoy.

Inversion layers and what was happening last night

Interesting times.

It is not typical to have the frost fans operating as late as the 12th of November, but they are.

More interesting is the reason they are operating.

You see it is cold (approaching freezing), but the type of cold that can be warmed by a frost fan is very selective.

You see a frost fan relies on an inversion layer (see here and here) to work. It pulls down slightly warmer air from about 15m above the ground.

But what if there is no inversion layer? Well then you end up blasting your vineyard with cold air. Yes, that would mean making a bad situation even worse.

Now a strange thing happened yesterday. In Marlborough, a cold air mass moved in from the South and brought with it rain and low temperatures. So throughout the day, air temperatures were low and as a result the temperature of everything else was low.

A typical day in September/October in Marlborough sees sun warming the ground and the air. Then at night the warmth from the ground is radiated away as infrared radiation and the warm air mass traps the cold from the ground near the surface. Hence the effect of a rise in temperature with an increase in height.

Last night there was no warm air and the temperature dropped towards freezing. As a result the frost fans that were running were probably moving cold air over their vineyards. Creating exactly the effect they were designed to prevent. Needless to say, the residents they woke up were annoyed. It would be even more annoying to know that the fans shouldn't have been running at all because they were only making the situation worse.

That man deserves a Methodes Traditionelle!

In a follow up to the advert seen for a system for providing frost protection through heating, it would appear that the news is picking up the story.

One of the really interesting aspects is that the heat transfer utilizes the transfer of sap in the vine to aid protection. Smart stuff.

Find attached an article from Blenheim's 'The Sun' newspaper (click on the picture for a readable version).

You can also see articles from stuff.co.nz here and from the NZ Herald here.

Yet more proof that the removal of frost fans from sensitive areas is not the end of viticulture. Simply using a responsible method of frost control means that everyone gets along.

Good effort to Daniel Le Brun at No 1 Family Estate and Cresswell Electrical.

Responsible Actions by Frost Fan Manufacturer

I'll be honest.

I had serious doubts that a company who could have easily clammed up and refused comment or even gone on the offensive (irrespective of the final outcome) would have had the moxie to confront his accuser and reply in a honest and open way.

But I was wrong.

I have received a full and frank description of the problem that has recently occurred with a particular brand of frost fan and the description of the steps taken to identify the problem, mitigate the risk and implement a resolution are both commendable and verifiable.

I have no doubt that the resolution is being implemented in a method that mitigates risk and this mitigation has involved co-ordination with another independent group that specializes in safety.

I am not a friend to this company and I have little reason to expect them to regard me as benign. Yet I will tell you that they have acted responsibly in this matter.

Their product and those of other frost fan companies are still being used recklessly and where this occurs they will anticipate having unwelcome attention.

There is little doubt I will receive grief for not outing the company publicly, but to put it bluntly, that's tough. Some will not accept that there is a larger picture that requires industry and affected persons to interact to try and improve the situation for all. Bad luck.

There is a chance... A good chance... that this situation will provide an impetus for real improvement.

The likelihood of any of the frost fan manufacturing companies launching into a song and dance about the safety of one of their competitors blades is relatively slim on the grounds that those in glasshouses should not throw stones.

There is a strong case to suggest from this incident and from those that have affected all manufacturers of frost fans, that a suitable stand off distance should apply to the machines from residential properties.

If statistics teaches us anything it is that given enough opportunity, stuff happens.

Remove the opportunity (remove the fans from nearby residential properties) and you remove the problem.

Frost Fan Failures

After consideration of the potential for harm to others I have contacted the manufacturer of the frost fans that have been reported as failing.

This is to provide an opportunity for him to confirm the steps being taken to address the issues so that the product can be relied on.

It is quite probable that the issue is being dealt with appropriately and if so, this would indicate a reasonable approach to the situation.

I await his response.

There will be those who regard this as a cop-out. That is a fair call. I won't try to justify it other than to say that it has been made with the ultimate goal of providing a better outcome for all.

And perhaps with a more open relationship between manufacturers (all manufacturers) and the environment into which their products are deployed things can improve.

Here's hoping.

2nd Abatement Notice Location Identified

And guess what?

It wasn't McKean Estates.

Faced with a 50-50 chance of who would be the offender, Mckean estates have wriggled off the hook. (See previous post here)

But into the firing line comes Paul Vegar (Auckland investment fellow) and his able Manager Daniel Watson.

The quick witted amongst you will recall the previous article here about "reckless, irresponsible and deliberate" taking of water in the Wairau Valley. And the stuff. co.nz article here on the same topic.

Well guess what?

Same fellows.

The land is cleverly tied up in investment speak parcels so that the title holder gets stung for the legal stouch while the investment manager wrings his hands. Real viticulture artisans. The sort of people to whom wine-making is not so much a calling as an art form to be elevated to the highest levels. I've no doubt they are skilled at making money. If you want a successful investment, see this guy.

In fact, if you're a lawyer, he's probably looking for some extra help too. And you know what? That's probably what will happen here. He won't decide to operate the fans at a compliant level. He'll fight it in court and chew up your hard earned rate dollars.

Frost Fan Blade Failures

Just hypothetically, suppose that you were administering a blog.

The thing is with blogs, you can find out a lot simply by seeing what traffic goes in and out of the site. I won't bore you with the technical details, but it is possible to gain an impression of the trends that viewers have (not individual viewers, but in general).

So, back to the interesting part. There has been a trend of late for people to look for information on the failure of frost fan blades. There has even been a snippet of information that would lead me to believe that people are looking for information on a specific manufacturers frost fans.

Now, because this is all hypothetical I took an opportunity to make an external inquiry or two. They had nothing to say, which makes me suspicious.

If the traffic is any indicator, something has happened.

Feel free to post a comment if you've got something to say. If it's speculation, you may rest assured I won't be publishing it until I can confirm something.

The data doesn't lie. Someone knows something. It's possible that they don't think it's important. But in the spirit of keeping the public aware of what's happening, I recommend fessing up sooner rather than later. The longer the secret is concealed, the worse the public reaction.

Somewhere...

Someone...

Knows...

2nd abatement notice issued in Marlborough

Radio New Zealand is reporting a second abatement notice being issued for excessive noise from frost fans.

In addition to the notice that was issued earlier in the year to Waihopai Holdings in the Waihopai Valley (which is currently under appeal), this one has been issued to a Wairau Valley offender (which comprises about 40 fans on two properties).

Now, I have no idea which property this would be.

However there are a limited number of possibilities.

One would be McKean Estates which was profiled in stuff.co.nz here and a little bit more about the machines they use here They are described as a property up the Wairau Valley that has 46 frost fans.

Of course it might not be them, they might well be operating their machines compliantly, unlike their efforts in the Hurunui (Waiata Vineyards) where Mr Mckean has been operating his fans in contravention of the resource consent that was issued to them for years.

Now irrespective of which property this is, the question has to be asked. Why has it taken so long?

Also, the Council have been reported as saying that it believe that the number of excessively noisy fans that are operating in the area is in the minority.

I beg to differ.

They have no evidence of this. Quite the contrary, they have done no testing to make this assumption. The only survey I am aware of which was done last month showed that almost ALL Orchard Rite and Amarillo fans were running at excessive speeds.

I'll make a bet here. I bet that the property that has just been issued the 2nd abatement notice is running Orchard Rite or Amarillo frost fans. If these fans are not the problem, I will shut down this blog site.