Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced funding of $500,000 for flood recovery measures.

He said the funding will help speed up the recovery of farming businesses, and includes wellbeing support and specialist technical advice.

 “The money will be used for recovery grants, to enable the region’s three Rural Support Trusts to provide extra help to farmers, and for other flood assistance where needed.”

 O’Connor said he was on the ground in Canterbury today speaking with officials and farmers about how the Government can assist rural communities.

 “Based on the advice I have received from Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff based in the area, the scale of impact is beyond the communities’ ability to cope.”

 Other recovery measures being considered include an Enhanced Taskforce Green work programme to assist with clean-up and recovery, Rural Assistance Payments to help farmers with essential living costs, and flexibility through the Income Equalisation Scheme.

 MPI is working closely with Civil Defence Emergency Management staff, industry groups and others to help with the recovery effort, including the animal welfare response.

The national Feed Coordination Service can help connect farmers with supplementary feed which has been donated or listed for sale. The national feed coordinator Kate Wood can be contacted by email on [email protected]

 Farmers needing expert support to do a feed budget can contact the Feed Planning Service by phoning 0800 BEEFLAMB (0800 233 352) or 0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 432 479 69). Farmers who need wellbeing support should call their Rural Support Trust on 0800 RURAL HELP or 0800 787 254.