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.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.