Dr Nick Cradock-Henry, Senior Scientist, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, comments: “The prospect of higher-than-average temperatures and lower rainfall than normal, for parts of the South Island, highlight again, the climate-related challenges for primary industries and rural communities. For example, drought has been a recurring feature of farming in North Canterbury over the last decade, overlapping with both the Kaikoura-Marlborough-Hurunui earthquake (2016) and Mycoplasma bovis ( M. bovis), a bacterial disease affecting dairy and beef cattle, which resulted in a major biosecurity hazard and response (2017). “Farms are often set up to cope with one, or even two, ‘difficult years.’ Repeated, or prolonged dry conditions, however, exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, placing undue pressure on household finances, personal relationships, livestock, and other aspects of the production system.