The use we make of the land has always affected the way we live, writes The Marlborough Express in an editorial.

New Zealand relies on agricultural production for its sustenance, and that has not changed in centuries.

And now as ever, there is friction where the edge of pastoral and agricultural production meets residential.

As the Marlborough vineyards grow, increasingly the use of wind machines to keep frost at bay is annoying residents.

Actually, it's angering them. They are hopping mad. Mad enough to ring the mayor and Marlborough District Councillors at 2am when they are being kept awake by the noise.

There is a some justice in that well that is how the residents of the Wairau Valley see it.

The valleys around Marlborough aren't the only places affected.

There are also some major changes elsewhere in New Zealand.

In the King Country, near Te Kuiti, a farm has just been sold for $32.5 million, believed to be a record price in New Zealand. The 3139-hectare property has been bought by a consortium of investors who will use it for grazing and raising dairy stock. The farm was previously used to finish sheep and beef but will be developed for dairying or diary support.

This is corporate farming and it will change the face of New Zealand farming. No longer will rural delivery roads be dotted with individual farmers and farming families. "The district" will become one big block, and with more staff rather than independent farmers. Some will live in the country, but many will live in town.

People won't be able to sort anything out by popping in next door they will have to phone a company. This may turn out to be very straightforward and businesslike. But it won't be the same.

The rules may also change in places such as the Wairau. There is some discussion that the district council may need to reconsider the Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan rules on frost protection. One suggestion is that a notified resource consent should be gained for installing a wind machine.

This will not be popular, except perhaps with those that can't get any sleep as apparently up to 60 machines do their work. One resident said vibrations from the machines are enough to rattle windows.

Vineyard owners have assured residents they only run the machines when necessary. Improved technology may be the answer to the issue. And anyone purchasing a house in a region should be told very clearly what they are buying into.

Councillors who have been phoned at night are sympathetic to their callers and have worked out compromises over the wind machines. Residents say they understand people need to make a living but not at the expense of their quality of life. Many have lived in an area for some time, long enough to watch the advance of the grape vines.

Until the technology arrives that makes frost protection quiet, the council will remain between a rock and a hard place on this issue. It needs to look into the cumulative effect of wind machines and may need to set some parameters and have the equipment required to measure that kind of noise.

And it needs to get used to making these kinds of decisions far more frequently because land use in New Zealand is going to get increasingly more intensive and will bump up against people far more often