Federated Farmers isn't backing the idea of a referendum on the much debated Ruataniwha water storage scheme.
The suggestion has been raised by one of the newly elected councillors on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Peter Beaven.
Mr Beaven is one of four members of the Grower Action Group, which campaigned on the way the council handled water restrictions during this year's drought and criticised the lack of information on the dam project.
Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Will Foley doesn't see the need for a referendum.
He says orchardists in the Hastings district in Heretaunga have highlighted the issue of how important water is as a resource to Hawke's Bay, and it is contradictory then to say that storage of water is not a good way to go.
But he says the promoters of the scheme could have done a lot more to push its benefits.
Meanwhile, one of the strongest critics of the dam, Hawke's Bay Fish and Game Council manager Pete McIntosh says farmers need to be wary of the regional council's claims about the economics behind the Ruataniwha dam.
He says the price of the water is more than double in the South Island. "Some of the dairy farmers I spoke to said it needs to be approximately half of what the regional council is currently pricing it at."
Mr McIntosh says the regional council is currently pricing water at 20 - 25 cents per cubic metre but dairy farmers believe it needs to be about 10 cents per cubic litre. He says water from the Opuha Dam in the South Island is about 5 cents per cubic litre.
