Long-term climate variability in Waikato and Manawatu: Have pasture growth, performance, and resilience conditions changed?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2025.87.3736Abstract
- 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.
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