Environment Southland's [ES] decision to ban all irrigation for the next 14 days has shocked Southland's drought stressed farmers.

"The province is facing a feed shortage and you've just turned off the water", said Southland Federated Farmers president Chris Dillon.

"You've [ES] just made the feed shortage worse".

With farmers already using their winter feed, Dillon questioned whether people weren't more important than allowing the rivers to flow low for another two or three weeks.

Fiordland farmer Ken Wright said he couldn't believe news of the irrigation ban.

"I'm really quite shocked", Wright said.

Wright said in 38 years farming in Te Anau, he had never seen the basin so dry at this time of the year.

He said turning the irrigation off would mean "we got no feed at all". 

WaterForce owner Judith McNaught said a lot of farmers were still irrigating, which was late for the south.

However she said the irrigation ban would mean farmers would not get the growth and it would definitely impact on the next season for sure.

Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell said "I know it’s putting incredible pressure and stress on the whole farming community because you don’t know when this thing is going to stop."

"I can never remember all of Southland, as it pretty much is now, in a drought phase this late in the season."

Horrell said the move to implement an irrigation ban had been a proactive one which he endorsed.

"We actually have to prioritise human drinking water, stock drink water, keeping our processing plants open."

"To do nothing would be irresponsible."

"The uncertainty of this. I know it’s corrosive. I know its causing a lot of stress out there, but we did need to show some leadership and start doing things that gives us some flexibility going forward."

Horrell said ES's decision would be reviewed weekly.

"Some areas may be less than a fortnight," he said.

"If for example the Mataura [river], which actually hasn’t hit its low level yet, if the flows stay up, there may be a decision to allow a percentage of the normal irrigation," Horrell said.

The southern drought has also prompted the government to declare today (31 March) a medium-scale adverse event in Southland and Clutha and Queenstown Lakes districts.

The declaration was welcomed by Southland Federated Farmers. Dillon said they had been pushing for the declaration for some time.

The classification releases $100,000 in Government funding to support farmers and growers from now until October 2022.