Rural leader grateful for latest honour
Waikato dairy farmer Neil Bateup, made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the New Year 2026 Honours list, says he’s grateful for the award.
He says it’s a very busy time for trusts, trying to help farmers and horticulturalists deal with the huge problems they face now and in the future. He says different regions are in different phases of dealing with problems.
He says in places such as Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay, RST people still don’t have access to some farmers because of damage to roads, bridges, power and lack of phone coverage. He says in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, most farmers still have their heads down trying to sort themselves out as best they can.
“In these early days a lot of people are running on adrenalin and that sort of thing, but sooner or later they will have to stop and think about their businesses and look at how they will get through the winter and into next season,” Bateup told Dairy News.
“Given what’s happening right now, it’s probably too early for the RST people to become very involved,” he says.
But Bateup says once farmers get over the initial phase of dealing with the immediate issues, they will probably need some advice around the next steps, so the RST can work with them and point them in the right direction to get help and support. He says they are there to provide with advice on what funds they can access and support them to deal with stress.
RST staff are helping their counterparts in Northland, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay to field calls for help.
Bateup says trusts in other unaffected regions are coming to the rescue.
“Calls coming into Northland have been rerouted through to Taranaki, who have some capacity and haven’t been affected and so Taranaki has been supporting Northland.
Bateup says in the case of Northland, the Waikato and the Coromandel, RTS’s are more involved in the recovery stage. He says as a result they are busy organising barbeques and other events to get people together to share their experiences and offer mutual support. In Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, he says the focus is still on response.
He says for RST’s the focus is getting farmers to talk to their accountants and other advisors and start to put together a plan for the future.
“You can’t change what’s happened but sitting down and having a plan going forward often takes some of the weight of the problem away. It’s the unknown that often causes most of the worry, but once you know what it means, then you can start to plan to go forward from there,” he says.
