NZ: Government kicks in to help farmers after storm

The Government has announced that extra funding is being made available to help farmers affected by the heavy weather of last week. Primary Industries Minister, Nathan Guy, has today officially classified the storm damage around the Coromandel, Hauraki District and Franklin Ward as a medium-scale adverse event.

“The damage here is significant and the recovery phase will be a challenge for some badly affected farms,” says Mr Guy, who visited a storm-damaged farm at Kawakawa Bay today.

“The impact of the Tasman Tempest storm brought heavy rainfall ranging from 350 to 850mm, and is estimated to have been a one-in-80-year event.

“Hauraki-Coromandel farmers were well prepared and are used to heavy rain, but there is still a lot of silt and debris to clean-up. Some farmers have lost livestock and supplementary feed where it was stored in paddocks. However there was also a large enough break in the rainfall for Fonterra to collect milk and prevent losses," Mr Guy says.

“Extra funding will now be available, if required, to coordinate support through the Waikato Rural Support Trust who are already on the ground with Federated Farmers assessing needs to help plan recovery activities.

“The Ministry for Primary Industries is also working with the Ministry of Social Development to activate Enhanced Taskforce Green, volunteer workers, and in extreme cases there may also be Rural Assistance Payments (RAPs) available to farmers in severe hardship."

For more information:
Waikato Rural Support Trust
Tel: +61 0800 RURALHELP