Amuri Irrigation Company

What Amuri Irrigation Company does

Amuri Irrigation Company (AIC) is a farmer-owned private company incorporated in 1990 that supplies irrigation water to 147 properties in New Zealand's Amuri Basin in North Canterbury. It draws water from the Waiau Uwha and Hurunui Rivers and operates the Balmoral, Waiau, and Waiareka schemes, serving 28,000 hectares of sheep and beef, dairy, and cropping land.\n\nWater delivery combines a pressurised network serving 24,000 hectares with an open-race system serving 4,000 hectares. The pressurised system includes approximately 131 kilometres of buried GRP and HDPE pipe, 180 offtakes, 11 combined pump stations, and 31 individual booster stations; intake structures also include fish screens and bypass races. AIC maintains a 24/7 operational response function through an approximately 10-person team.\n\nAIC's revenue model is based on recurring annual water charges set at the lowest sustainable cost and on land-linked water access: one share is allocated per irrigated hectare, and shares must remain tied to a land title within the consented area. Farmer shareholders order water directly through an online portal, while AIC also operates pipe-location services and environmental programmes. Its current environmental work includes wetland restoration and the 2022 Amuri Basin Future Farming partnership with the MPI Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund, Environment Canterbury, and DairyNZ, partly supporting preparation for resource-consent renewal in 2033.

Name

Amuri Irrigation Company

Legal name

Amuri Irrigation Company Limited

Website

https://amuriirrigation.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Amuri Irrigation Company is a farmer-owned private company that delivers irrigation water from the Waiau Uwha and Hurunui Rivers to 147 farming properties across New Zealand's Amuri Basin through three schemes serving 28,000 hectares.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Irrigation Water Services

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (221310), Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131)

SIC

Water Supply (4941), Agricultural Services (700), Pumps & Pumping Equipment (3561), Water, Sewer, Pipeline, Comm & Power Line Construction (1623)

akta.pro primary industry

Irrigation Operation, Maintenance & Repair (Pumps, Valves, Controllers) (AFACAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Water-Smart Irrigation & Water Stewardship (Drip/Micro, Scheduling, Water Harvesting) (AFAGAMAD), Irrigation Automation & Controls Services (SCADA, Sensors, Telemetry) (AFACAFAI), Monitoring, Metering & Flow Measurement (Meters, Pressure/Flow Gauges, Telemetry) (AFAAACAK), Pump & Well Services for Irrigation (Well Testing, Pump Sizing, Rehab) (AFACAFAG)

Keywords

• Irrigation water delivery
• Agricultural water supply
• Irrigation scheme management
• Farm water distribution
• Pressurised irrigation network

Headquarters

HQ city

Culverden

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Water Charges: Water charges are set at the lowest sustainable cost to make water available at an affordable price while implementing the company's vision. Charges are determined to cover operational costs and enable disciplined expenditure focused on creating shareholder value.
2. Share-based Access: Shares are allocated at one share per irrigated hectare. Shares are tradeable between farms and must be tied to land title within the consented area. Maximum flow rate of 0.6 litres per second per hectare for spray irrigation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Amuri Irrigation Company delivers agricultural irrigation water to 147 farming properties across the Amuri Basin in North Canterbury, New Zealand. The company operates three irrigation schemes (Balmoral, Waiau, and Waiareka) drawing water from the Waiau Uwha and Hurunui Rivers through a combination of open water races and a 131km pressurised pipe network covering 28,000 hectares. Services include water delivery on roster-based spray and border-dyke irrigation, an online ordering system, and supporting environmental compliance programmes.

Product overview

Amuri Irrigation Company (AIC) is a farmer-owned irrigation company that operates three distinct irrigation schemes (Balmoral, Waiau, and Waiareka) delivering water from the Waiau Uwha and Hurunui Rivers to properties in the Amuri Basin, North Canterbury. The company irrigates 28,000 hectares of land through a combination of open channel and pressurised pipe networks. Services include water delivery on a roster system for spray irrigation (0.6 litres per second per hectare) and border dyke irrigation (385 litres per second on roster). Supporting services include an online water ordering portal, pipe location services, and community fund programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Balmoral Scheme Irrigation scheme that takes 5 cubic metres per second of water from the Hurunui River. Water is diverted into a diversion race, flows through a settlement pond with fish screen, and is distributed via open races and two pipelines to farmland near Culverden.
• Waiau Scheme The largest of the three AIC schemes, taking 11 cubic metres per second of water from the Waiau River at Leslie Hills Road Bridge. Originally set up for borderdyke irrigation but now 100% spray irrigation. Water is gravity fed along open race to Mouse Point where it enters the pipe network and is distributed along three main pipelines to farmland near Culverden and Rotherham.
• Waiareka Scheme The oldest scheme, taking 450 litres per second of water from the north side of the Waiau River east of Waiau township. Waters over 400 hectares on eight farms by border dyke and spray irrigation from a single flow race on a 12-day rotation.
• Water Ordering System Online customer portal that allows farmer shareholders to place water delivery orders and manage their irrigation scheduling through orders.amuriirrigation.co.nz/customer-connect.
• Pipe Location Services Provides KML map files compatible with Google Earth showing as-built alignments of installed pipelines, and participates in the BeforeUDig service to help contractors and landowners safely identify the location of buried pipelines before excavation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Wetland restoration transforming underutilised landscape into environmental assets to improve water quality
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• MPI Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures FundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership on the Amuri Basin Future Farming project (2022) to accelerate improvement in freshwater ecosystem health while ensuring profitable farming and community resilience. Builds on existing strategy to farm beyond regulatory minimums ahead of consent renewal in 2033.
• Environment CanterburycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership on the Amuri Basin Future Farming project to improve freshwater ecosystem health while ensuring profitable farming. Environment Canterbury is the regional council responsible for environmental regulation in Canterbury.
• DairyNZcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership on the Amuri Basin Future Farming project. DairyNZ represents dairy farmers nationally and provides research, development and advocacy for the dairy industry.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Central Plains Water: Central Plains Water is a Canterbury-based irrigation scheme delivering water to farms in the Selwyn district via pressurized pipe networks. It operates a similar farmer-shareholder model with consents tied to land, making it the closest direct peer to AIC in New Zealand.
• Rangitata Diversion Race Management: RDRL operates a large community irrigation infrastructure in mid-Canterbury taking water from the Rangitata River. It shares AIC's model of operating river-take and distribution infrastructure for agricultural water delivery.
• Opuha Water: Opuha Water operates the Opuha Dam and irrigation scheme in South Canterbury, delivering water to farmer shareholders. It is a comparable community irrigation scheme operating pressurized pipe networks with share-based water entitlements.

Emerging players

• WaterForce: WaterForce is a New Zealand company specializing in designing, installing, and servicing irrigation infrastructure including pivot, drip, and sprinkler systems. While not a scheme operator, it serves overlapping farmer customers in the same Canterbury region with related irrigation technology.

Others

• Aqualinc Research: Aqualinc is a New Zealand water resources consultancy providing irrigation design, water management, and resource consent advisory services. It overlaps with AIC in irrigation water management consulting rather than direct water delivery.

Regional players

• Murray Irrigation: Murray Irrigation is one of Australia's largest private irrigation infrastructure operators serving farmers in the Murray Valley. It provides a relevant international benchmark for large-scale farmer-owned irrigation scheme operations, though based in Australia rather than New Zealand.

Broad incumbents

• SunWater: SunWater is a Queensland government-owned corporation operating bulk water infrastructure including dams, weirs, and irrigation channels. It offers comparable bulk water delivery infrastructure operations at a larger scale than AIC in a different jurisdiction.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/amuri-irrigation-company

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Amuri Irrigation Company