Urban summer holiday-makers travelling through parts of rural Otago and South Canterbury could be forgiven for being oblivious to what has been dubbed the Big Dry.
For while swaths of the landscape are tawny-brown, areas with reliable irrigation water supply maintain their green hues.
The contrast could not be greater.
As irrigation restrictions take effect, dryland farmers look to offload stock - forcing prices down - and another day passes without significant rainfall, it is a timely reminder of the importance of reliable and affordable irrigation, and the need for more water storage.
For while a return to the hot, dry summers of old might be good news for holiday-makers as they launch their boats under the scorching sun, or lounge by the lakeside, farmers are feeling the effects.
As well as the need for some to destock, there are also implications further down the track with an impending shortage of winter feed.
Parched conditions do not just affect farmers, their back-pockets and their mental wellbeing; there is a flow-on effect to Queen St and Lambton Quay, as well as provincial New Zealand.
Drought in the 2012-13 summer was estimated to have wiped more than $1 billion from the country's economy.
This year's dry might not have been deemed serious enough yet to be classified as a medium-scale adverse event, but the Government has acknowledged it will continue to keep a close watch on the situation.
The threshold for a medium-scale event would be reached when the lack of rainfall had an economic, environmental and social impact on farming businesses and the wider community.
If the Government declared a medium-scale adverse event, a Rural Assistance Payment programme would be activated, helping eligible farmers with essential living costs.
Water is a precious resource which must be utilised wisely but also it should not be wasted.
IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis is right when he says this summer has highlighted the need to fast-track alpine-fed water storage infrastructure.
Despite a strong focus on irrigation development over the past five years, very limited progress has been made on investing in alpine storage.
Alpine rainfall is more consistent and plentiful than foothills and plains rainfall, hence its suitability for providing reliable water supply.
Certainty of supply also means increased environmental benefits; it allows investment in irrigation technologies that improve nutrient management and production, he says.
There are also direct benefits from storage including the augmentation of summer river flows or being able to release flushing flows that cleanse rivers of summer algal growth.
In North Otago-South Canterbury, well-known as one of the most drought-prone areas in the country, water reliability from the Waitaki River system is nearly 100%.
Having that reliability gives Ikawai dairy farmer Gert van't Klooster an opportunity to farm the soil to its potential, without the limiting factor of a shortage of water.
Or, as he says, ''It gives you the certainty to farm in the black and gives you the possibility to be green.''
And, if it were not for that security, he would be destocking now, drying cows off and feeding supplements destined to feed stock in the following autumn to spring. Instead, it is business as usual on his farm.
There are those in society who would sooner see a natural dust bowl, rather than the greenness of irrigated pasture.
Perhaps they need to be reminded that green grass in a farmer's paddock is not just benefiting the farmer; it is benefiting the country.
Irrigation does not solve everyone's problems; it comes at a cost and often necessitates changes in farming practices.
But, provided that it is affordable and reliable, it does give security.
Drought is nothing new for farmers, who are used to facing challenges.
They are resilient and they know that it always rains after a dry spell.
As one North Otago farmer once said, ''It will take you to desperation, but how do you define desperation?''
