Drought a long-term concern

Dave Mellish
Dave Mellish
Farmers affected by drought are mostly ''coping OK'', Otago Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Dave Mellish says.

''They are very resilient, they are looking ahead [and] they are positive,'' Mr Mellish, who was dealing with a ''small number'' of farmers, said this week.

He had been busy speaking to them so they were ''fully aware'' of the trust's presence and confidentiality was a very important part of its work.

''We're there to help, that's why we've been promoting ourselves to make sure we're accessible.''

Mr Mellish had been setting up a network of farmers in drought-affected areas in Otago. He had been promoting Keeping the Balance workshops developed by WellSouth, with one to be held in Roxburgh on March 27, and had been in touch with it about support and counselling available.

Mr Mellish was up-to-date with rural assistance payment procedures and had been in touch with accountants over taxation matters. He had also helped set up a support group of people who had different experiences of drought in past years.

Recent moisture in varying amounts throughout dry areas had lifted sentiment ''without a doubt,'' he said.

If there was still warm weather and more rain over the next three to four weeks, the situation ''could be a little bit positive'', but the effects of the drought would be long-term.

There were serious concerns about farmers securing winter feed, and they should not just assume it was going to happen, he said.

Dunedin-based Federated Farmers senior policy adviser David Cooper has been appointed co-ordinator for the South Island drought committee. He said drought was very different from the likes of a snow adverse event, when it was ''basically boots on the ground''.

The financial impact was going to stretch over this year, next year and likely a couple of years after that.

The drought committee was about supporting the wellbeing of people and animals, making sure it knew about what was going on and reporting back to Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.

It also supported good work being done by Rural Support Trusts throughout the country and industry bodies including Beef and Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ and Federated Farmers.

The multi-stakeholder group had been meeting since mid-January. It initially comprised representatives from Otago and South Canterbury, but had since expanded to cover all areas affected by last month's medium-scale adverse event declaration. They are: Dunedin, Central Otago, Waitaki, Waimate, Mackenzie, Timaru, Ashburton, Selwyn, Christchurch, Waimakariri, Hurunui, Kaikoura and Marlborough.

The primary role of the committee was to identify potential actions, co-ordinate them and share work that had begun. Co-ordination was largely being led by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Rural Support Trusts and Federated Farmers. The ministry was providing strategic policy advice, resourcing and support, and translating national policy into actionable advice. Mr Cooper said DairyNZ and Beef and Lamb had been very good about organising farmer meetings and getting advice out, while regional councils in Otago, Canterbury and Tasman also were very good at explaining the issues to farmers.

Generally, farmers had ''been through this before'' and were making good decisions, while a very small minority were struggling, he said. They needed to get a plan in place and talk to good advisers, which could include older farmers. Social contact was important to help individuals realise they were ''not the only one in that boat''.

Add a Comment