Ashburton, Canterbury Region, South Island, New Zealand

🇳🇿 Ashburton (Hakatere) is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is 85 km (53 mi) south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satellite town of Christchurch.

The town is the 29th-largest urban area in New Zealand and the fourth-largest urban area in the Canterbury Region, after Christchurch, Timaru and Rolleston.

Economy The economy of Ashburton is influenced by the economy of the Ashburton District as a whole. In the year to March 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Ashburton District was $2,506m, representing 0.8% of New Zealand's total GDP. The largest proportion of the Ashburton District GDP is derived from primary industries, at 27.0%. This is substantially higher than the 6.2% contribution of primary industries to the national GDP. The next highest contribution to the district GDP was from 'Other services' representing 26.7% in the district GDP, versus 34.7% in the national economy. Goods-producing industries were 21.3%, versus 18.7% in the national economy. High-value services (such as knowledge-based service industries) represented the smallest proportion in Ashburton District GDP, at 10.2%, versus 25.6% in the national economy.

The town has businesses providing a wide range of services to farming in the district, including seed merchants, livestock companies, farm machinery dealers, banks, lawyers and accountants.

Agriculture Ashburton lies in the middle of the fertile alluvial Canterbury Plains which permits agricultural activity such as dairying, provided irrigation is used. More than 100 local farmers grow potatoes, corn and peas which are processed locally.

The Ashburton District Council has a 40% holding in the company that manages the Rangitata Diversion Race. This scheme diverts water from the Rangitata and South Ashburton rivers into a canal that provides irrigation to large parts of the district.

Vegetable processing A vegetable processing factory owned by Talley's is located on the northern outskirts of Ashburton. The factory was built in 1996 to take advantage of the good soils and irrigation of the Ashburton district. The factory processes peas, corn and potatoes. The potatoes are made into French fries, hash browns and wedges. Much of what is processed is exported to overseas customers. The factory employs 360 staff.

Meat processing Ashburton was home to a lamb processing works from the early 1900s until 2017, when it was closed with the loss of 370 staff due to declining lamb numbers in Canterbury. The pelt house closed in 2019 with the loss of a further 44 staff. Talley's purchased the site in 2020 and had plans to use it to support vegetable production and use the cool stores for their frozen produce.

Cooperative companies In 2012, Ashburton was noted for having more cooperative companies operating in its district than in any other area of New Zealand, and was subsequently named by the New Zealand Cooperatives Association the "Cooperative Capital of New Zealand". Several of the 40-plus companies are national companies based outside the district, such as Fonterra, Foodstuffs and Silver Fern Farms (meat processing), but many were local cooperatives, such as the Ashburton Trading Society (farm supplies) and Electricity Ashburton (electricity distribution).

Museum and Art Gallery The Ashburton Museum and Art Gallery share one building, which sits on State Highway 1, just outside the centre of town. As well as temporary exhibitions, the museum has a permanent exhibition tracing the history of the Ashburton district.

When the art gallery opened in 2015, it was unable to display any art works on the walls as the new air-conditioning unit, being delivered from Italy had not arrived. The 2700 art works in the collection had to remain in storage.

Marae The Hakatere marae is located on the northern edge of Ashburton. Although Ashburton is within the rohe or region where the Ngāi Tahu iwi are traditionally based, the Hakatere marae is not a Ngāi Tahu marae. It was built as a marae for people from all iwi. The marae is located on land that was originally the Fairton Primary School. This land was acquired in 1970 and the Hakatere marae was gazetted as a Māori reserve in 1976. The wharenui was destroyed by an arson attack in 2003. The wharekai was completed in 2007 at a cost of around $300,000.

Ashburton Domain The Ashburton Domain sits in the centre of Ashburton next to state highway 1. At 37 hectares in size, it includes public gardens, cricket pitches, football fields, tennis courts, bowls club and a croquet club. A playground and paddling pool also have been built in the domain.

Railway museum The Plains Vintage Railway and Historical Museum is located in the Tinwald Domain. The railway runs on approximately three km of rural railway line that was once part of the Mount Somers Branch. There are a variety of historical buildings and trains on display.

Ashburton Aviation Museum The Ashburton Aviation Museum is located at the Ashburton Airport. The museum has two buildings which display almost thirty aircraft. These include a Skyhawk formerly used by the New Zealand Air Force, a Vampire FB5 and a Canberra B2 Bomber. The collection also includes the only British Aerospace HS Harrier "Jump-jet" GR3 in the southern hemisphere.