Canterbury Plains
Topic: World Physical Features and Natural Regions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Primary Activities"
Meaning
The Canterbury Plains are flat lowland grasslands on the east side of New Zealand's South Island. They lie in the rain shadow of the Southern Alps. A rain shadow is the drier land behind mountains that block rain-bearing winds. This gives the plains a fairly dry, temperate climate that suits grass, grain and sheep. They are New Zealand's main area of extensive commercial grain farming. In this kind of farming, farms are very large and run by machines. Each hectare gives a low yield, but each worker produces a lot. Sheep rearing is also important here.
Example
The plains stretch around Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island. Lamb raised here is sold around the world as "Canterbury lamb".
Don't confuse with
- Downs: these are temperate grasslands in south-eastern Australia (Murray-Darling basin), not New Zealand.
- Pampas: these are grain-and-beef grasslands in Argentina and Uruguay, in South America.