As the questions and criticism flew from the floor so did the eyebrows rise at the front table that included MPI director-general Martyn Dunne, MPI response veterinary adviser Eve Pleydell and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor.
The turnout was indicative of the concern the district stands to lose 25% of its dairy herd.
Farmers slammed the ministry’s sluggish communication.
“For God’s sake start bloody talking to us,” was a call from the crowd.
“We have got to get this right, you are giving us no confidence. This crowd needs belief.
“Openness and honesty has not been forthcoming. Give us proper information and we can keep on track,” farmers said.
One infected property owner demanded responsibility from the top.
“I want the bigger guys to come and sit around my table.
“We are farmer for farmer, and MPI, if you want farmers, join in and start talking,” the farmer told the officials to a round of applause.
O’Connor said “Yes there are mistakes and we need to do better” as he pledged to “ease the burden of those in the firing line”.
MPI director-general Martyn Dunne acknowledged the “deep knowledge and experience” coming from the Canterbury farmers.
He was stunned to hear a farmer whose herd had been killed at two different processing companies was charged $100 a head by one processor and $190 a head by the other.
His regular processor had offered to do it for nothing but MPI said no.
“We all have much to learn and we are learning. I acknowledge the experience showing out here. We are getting a very clear message.”
“At a recent meeting in Waikato half the people in the room had never heard of the disease,” Dunne said.
He promised immediate action on several issues raised by the farmers.
“One month ago I thought we could crack this then we had a spike in notices of direction (NoD). It was much easier then than where we are now,” Dunne said.
O’Connor said there is more than a 50% chance of successful phased eradication.
“We believe the goal is worth the shot but we need to rely on co-operative spirit to get through the next two years.”
There are off-ramps if eradication is found to be not working, O’Connor said.
Pleydell said there is not a “set in stone point” when the eradication strategy would be dropped in favour of management.
“We are aware there are infected places out there that we don’t know about so constant reviews will monitor where it is headed as we progress.”
Pleydell said trigger points for a change of direction include finding there is more than one strain, finding a cluster of diseased properties not linked to the current network, the scale of the outbreak increasing significantly or the timing of new infections.
As for the disease pathway – Dunne is not confident that will be fully solved.
“I am not confident we will crack this quickly.
“I can assure you we are turning every brick to find out how it got here and we seek your co-operation to come forward with any information that might help.”
O’Connor urged farmers to be accurate with their compensation applications.
“The system has been stretched since day one. There have been some unnecessary delays but the whole system is getting better.”
MPI pledged to make initial payouts in 4-10 days of receiving completed and accurate applications.
Meantime affected farmers are encouraged to seek help and support from the Rural Support Trust.
“We are seeing farmers frustrated, angry, sad, scared – mental health issues are building,” RST M bovis Canterbury-Otago response leader Sarah Barr said.
