New leaders for Insurance Council
The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) has appointed a new president and vice-president.
The country's main farm insurer FMG is encouraging farmers who have suffered quake damage to telephone for advice on making claims.
FMG chief executive Chris Black visited North Canterbury and the South Island east coast to see first-hand the nature and scale of the damage.
Most importantly, he says, farmers must get roofs over their heads, organise food and start milking cows if they are dairy farmers.
He has seen some damaged farm plant that is repairable and some that needs replacing. In Waiau he saw a dairy shed completely wrecked.
Several months or more may elapse before the damage is sorted and things return to normal, Black says. The effects of this quake are different from those caused by the Darfield quake in 2010.
“The land slips are much more severe than at Darfield and access is a much bigger problem than in Canterbury. Some staff are going up from Christchurch and some from Blenheim to meet clients.
“We already have hundreds of claims. We realise people are under stress and for some it was a terrifying experience.”
People are helping each other and pulling together as people do in rural communities, he says. In the case of the farmer whose dairy shed was ruined, his 1000 cows are being milked on other farms in the district.
“We are working with Federated Farmers and Rural Support Trust, seeing a coming together of those groups which happens at a time like this. We can’t do everything ourselves but we can connect people with those who can help.”
Black expects FMG to cover damage to houses, sheds and stock water systems, and business interruption.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
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