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.

The Marlborough District Council: Where the bleeding obvious goes to be ignored

Meet Hans Versteegh. Regulatory manager for the Marlborough District Council.

He is indeed in the hot seat. Frost fans must keep the plate pretty full I suppose.

Well I suppose if you had a rule in your district plan that you couldn't enforce, that would be troublesome wouldn't it?

Actually it would only be troublesome if it caused a nuisance or something. Kind of like if the rule was aimed at keeping a really loud noise quiet.

So if people thought the really loud noise was unreasonable, they could complain and get it sorted right?

Oh, hold on, you can't test the noise. Darn it.

Wait, what if someone demonstrated a way to tell if the noise was to loud?

Ahh.. I see the master at work... Agree with him that the method does show non compliance, but then wring your hands because it might be a bit scary to ask if the operators or the installers would they please set them to a correct level.

Thanks again to the Blenheim Sun Community newspaper for this follow up article to the previous piece on checking compliance.

I see that Hans mentions that prosecuting offenders means dealing with the court and criminal jurisdiction system. I presume that those who run their fans at a non compliant level are actually criminal offenders.

Sorry Hans, would that be the Criminal Court or the Environment Court?

I like your explanation better. If the fans are being too noisy, call the police. Hans said it's the right thing to do. It's a criminal act after all.

Can you get a finding beyond reasonable doubt on an unreasonable noise? (you're not ACTUALLY the legal expert are you?)

P.S. Hans: I see you're the Marlborough contact for the protection and recovery of the pygmy button daisy. Those daisy's really need our help. Really.

Inspector Frost. Nice. Very Nice.

Good on you Malcolm for providing a method for checking if fans are breaching the District plan. The attached scans are from the Blenheim Sun Newspaper, who ran a story on his efforts which he also posted here recently.

Of course there was also a reply from the Council which will follow in a separate post...

The Pursuit of Technology II: Frost Fan alternatives

Hard on the heels of the previous post about exploring alternatives for frost protection, is an advert pointed out to me by an alert reader for providing frost protection using electrical heating elements. It's targeteing areas specifically with fan / noise problems as a viable alternative.

Nice idea.

I would presume an initial infrastructure cost and then simply rent a generator for the frost season. It would be interesting to see the cost per acre for installation / running.

Well done to Daniel Le Brun at No 1 Family Estate (web site here and selection of undoubtedly fine wines (responsibly produced)).

Kudos also to Cresswell Electrical for installation services.

Frost Fan Myth: The problem is caused by lifestylers moving to the country

This is a common piece of misdirection put about by those who would have you believe that the noise from frost fans is a normal agricultural activity and that it's only since the the countryside has been overrun with people seeking a country lifestyle that the problem of noise has surfaced.

The way to identify that this is a false statement is to quietly examine the facts.

First of all the section 32 report that was released with the recent proposed rule change shows the increase of frost fan numbers in Marlborough. This shows that before 2000 there were practically no frost fans. The number climbed slowly to 100 in 2005. Then it picked up a bit of pace. By 2007 there were 300. By 2009 there were 1000.

So lets not fool ourselves here. The problems have blossomed because frost fan numbers have blossomed.

The second way to identify this as a myth, is that the myth automatically puts the blame for the problem onto anything other than frost fan use.

It couldn't possibly be something as simple as lots of unregulated frost fans being installed? It certainly wouldn't be something as simple as frost prone land that would normal be discounted for viticulture being used for growing grapes (irrespective of who's living next door)?

Here's the test for finding out who's to blame for when a frost fan is keeping you awake.

Did you build your house next to a frost fan? If the frost fan arrived after you built your house, then the problem is hardly of your making. (bonus marks if there wasn't even a vineyard nearby when your house was built)

Are the frost fan's near to you running at the right speed? This is a tricky one since the Council's track record at monitoring and compliance has been (how shall we put it), below expectations.

Is the operator a reasonable fellow or does he live in Sumner / Remuera? If they don't live on the property, the chances are that they probably don't much care about you or whether you're being kept awake.

Sorry, its a rambling blog post, but after seeing Stuart Smith spout his typical ' go back to town' speech, I had to get it off my chest.

Frost Fan Issue National News

TV1 viewers would have seen an article on the frost fan issue on tonights news broadcast

The text version of the story is here or you can watch the video segment here.

Stuart Smith couldn't help himself and touted the same tired scaremongering.

Likewise wine grower Chris Simmonds claimed that it was just 1% of the frost fans that were causing the problems. Err... Chris, have you checked out the results of the test of frost fan compliance lately? That would be more like 90% of them do not meet the requirements.

Sorry Chris, frost fan users in Marlborough have been running their machines at too high a level for years and as a result they have defecated in their own nest. THAT's why the Council is being forced to impose new regulations. It's the irresponsible users who thought they would set them to any level they wanted because the Council never checks them. It's not a few... It's almost all....

The chickens are coming home to roost.

Submissions Close Tomorrow

Have your say.

Support or oppose. If you don't put in a submission, the Council doesn't know what direction they will go in.

Your voice matters.

Handy Hints for Completing a Submission on the Frost Fan Plan Change

No doubt you are working through your submissions for the plan change (if not. you need to get moving).

Here are some handy hints from the form for making sure that your submission is formatted in a manner that makes reading and understanding your suggestions clear.

These words of advice are from the front of the submission form itself and should therefore be a pretty good guide

When preparing your submission you need to include the following:

“This part of my submission relates to …” - state the name of the plan change and the part(s) of the plan change that is/are the subject of your submission.

“I support (or oppose) this part of the plan change.” – state whether you support or oppose (in full or part).

“My reasons for supporting (or opposing) this part of the plan change …” - tell us what your concerns are and the reasons why you support or oppose the provisions in the plan change.

“The decision I seek from the Council is …” - How do you want the Council to respond to your submission? It is very important that you clearly state the decision you wish the Council to make as the Council cannot make changes which have not been specifically requested. Start by indicating if you want the provision to be retained, deleted or amended. If you want an amendment (including additional provisions) then specify what wording changes you would like to see.

REMEMBER - the clearer you can be, the easier it will be for the Council to understand your concerns and take them into account.

For example;

Plan Change 58:

Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan

Volume Two

This part of my submission relates to;

Definitions

1. Add a new definition as follows:

Frost fan means a land based device, designed or adapted to control frost by fanning warmer air over potentially frost-affected surfaces, and includes the support structure.

I support this part of the plan change.

Or perhaps...

Plan Change 58:

Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan

Volume Two

This part of my submission relates to;

Definitions

1. Add a new definition as follows:

Frost fan means a land based device, designed or adapted to control frost by fanning warmer air over potentially frost-affected surfaces, and includes the support structure.

I oppose this part of the plan change.

My reason for opposing this part of the plan change is that frost fans could evolve in form, shape or nature in many different ways and that this description need to be broader.

The decision I seek from the Council is to amend this provision to read the following;

Add a new definition as follows:

Frost fan means a device, designed or adapted to move an inversion layer of air to control frost at ground level.

Frost last night

I hope everyone enjoyed the frost last night. Not a big one, but enough to set the district alight (almost literally and figuratively).

If I read MetVUW correctly we could be heading for more noise on Wednesday and Saturday Morning. Fingers crossed!

Bladeless Fans and the Pursuit of Technology

Bladeless fans I hear you say. That doesn't sound right.
Well, the concept is unusual, and if it hadn't come from Sir James Dyson himself, I would be more concerned.

But if you have a look at the product home page here, or the related video where Sir James explains the principles here or (my favorite) a wonderful explanation of how it works here you will see a concept that is strange, but obviously effective.

Now I'm not going to expect that the concept will scale to something suitable for frost protection. However, it is a very real and somewhat related example of engineering applying solutions to problems that are out of the square.

This same development needs to continue for frost fans.

In short, the concept of using an inversion layer to provide warmth to a crop is a good one. Frost fans are an effective means of achieving this end. However, they have side effects.

The Defender has taken a step to reduce those side effects by employing a more aerodynamic blade and making it rotate more slowly and then compensating for the reduced flow by making the blade larger with a higher pitch.

The C49 from Frost Boss has taken a step further by using their already quiet 4 bladed technology and implementing an aerodynamic blade in conjunction with cleverly examining the airflow from the perspective of the actual job that the fan is doing (this is a relatively low speed fan compared to aircraft propellers) and designed their blades to suit. This is what puts them one step ahead of the Defender.

The end result for both these manufacturers is quieter fans that do the same (or perhaps better) job than before. This same evolution needs to continue but with an even bolder change in direction to allow for greater reduction in noise. A bladeless Dyson fan will probably not be the answer, but the answer WILL be something different from a conventional fan. Keep your thinking caps on.

Frost fans and the tragedy of the commons

If there's one overriding impression I've got from reading the paper (especially the letters to the editor), its that the effect of sleep deprivation on the people of Marlborough due to frost fan operation is a issue.

These people are annoyed. They're annoyed at absentee vineyard owners, they're annoyed at arrogant growers, they're annoyed at irresponsible frost fan operators, they're annoyed at an apathetic Council.

Make no mistake. The only reason a rule change is currently being mooted it that the Council are only now realizing that the problem has gone too far. people are going to get hurt and someone will have blood on their hands. It's the typical situation commonly described as the 'Tragedy of the commons".

This is a situation where a limited resource (in this case a level of noise low enough to allow sleep) is abused and ultimately destroyed by individuals acting selfishly in an unmanaged environment.

The Council set a rule that they failed to enforce. Selfish owners / operators / growers took advantage of the situation to try and maximize their own individual needs (by having their frost fans turned up too high and putting them too close to other residents). The end result is an environment so poisoned that they have made it unfit for use and ultimately hurt themselves by ending up looking like arrogant polluters. Obviously in an industry with a focus on a clean, responsible, product, this image is undesirable. Sadly they have maintained the attitude that the problem is not theirs, its the people who can't sleep's problem. A failure to engage in a proactive management of the issue from a collective perspective means that the district that so many people have enjoyed for so many years (yes, since before frost fans arrived in 2000) is now having to try and rescue itself from ruthless industrial greed.

Not farming.

Industry.

Have your say. Put in a submission on the proposed change to the frost fan rules.

You are being abused

A quick look at the testing data that was provided in the compliance checks that Malcolm posted shows that two of these NON COMPLIANT fans are right on the boundary of Blenheim!
In fact, to say they're on the boundary is being kind. One is practically in your back yard!

This is one reason why it's noisy in Marlborough

OK, It's fair to say that there has been some pressure applied to release this information (thanks Jack), but it goes to the heart of explaining one of the reasons why there is a noise problem from frost fans in Marlborough.

In short, Orchard Rite and Amarillo frost fans are being installed and run at speeds that result in noise that exceeds the limits laid down in the District Plan.

This information was a long time in the making and further testing would help represent the scale of the problem, however, in the short amount of testing done to date there is no doubt that two of the three frost fan brands are being installed in contravention of the District Plan.

The document that is here describes the results of the tests and provides the figures to back up the statement.

The data has been offered to the Marlborough District Council for independent checking. However, I encourage anyone to do the testing themselves to confirm the problem. The instructions for doing so are here.

Regards Malcolm