Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor says the funding will be available to help farmers around the country, with the current large-scale adverse event classification expanded to include Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury and Otago.
In March last year the entire North Island, parts of the South Island – Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, North Canterbury – and the Chatham Islands were classified as being affected by a large-scale adverse event because of drought. The declaration unlocked Government funding to support farmers and growers.
That support for farmers in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Nelson and Tasman regions, along with Manawatū, Rangitīkei and Tararua districts, will continue until June 30, when it will be reviewed.
Support has been extended until November 30 for Marlborough, North Canterbury, and the Chatham Islands, with Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury and Otago farmers also able to apply for assistance until that date.
O’Connor says Taranaki and the Ruapehu and Whanganui districts have received good rainfall and soil moisture levels there have recovered.
For other parts of the country, excluding the west coast of the South Island, dry conditions are forecast to continue.
“Autumn has got off to an extremely dry start in multiple regions along the east coast of the country. Forecast rainfall is not expected to be enough to allow parched soils and pastures time to recover before winter,” O’Connor said.
“This is the second consecutive year of drought for parts of the country and low groundwater levels have not been able to recharge.”
He says the latest funding will ensure feed support services can continue and extra wellbeing assistance will be available to more farmers affected by drought.
WeatherWatch chief executive Philip Duncan says little rain is forecast for May across much of the country.
Duncan says two large high pressure systems are on the way from Australia that will bring settled weather across most of the country for the first half of May. The first one will take more than a week to move through and the one following will merge with it.
That means while the west coast of the South Island is forecast to receive about 15mm of rain, most of the east coast of both islands are more likely to receive 0-5mm.
Very dry weather across much of the country during autumn has been a pattern of the past three years, he says, but there’s no real explanation for the uptick in high pressure systems and the corresponding lack of rain.
“It’s just been exceptionally dry,” Duncan said.
O’Connor encourages farmers who need help to do a feed budget to get them through winter to contact the national feed planning service. Alternatively, the feed coordination service can help farmers who need supplementary feed immediately.
Details are available on the MPI website.
