Clock ticking on roading

Beef+Lamb NZ’s chief executive told Rural News that famers are rightly concerned about the state of roading infrastructure in rural areas. He wants this fixed and farmers given some accurate timelines as to when this will be done.

McIvor says unless this is done soon, farmers face huge problems getting stock to processing plants and stock sales, which has big implications for them coming into the winter. He says the roads also need to be fixed so that heavy machinery can be brought on to farms to repair tracks and cart in materials for repairing fences and stock yards, which have been damaged.

“Government – both central and local – need to pull out all the stops to make this happen.”

McIvor says there is a multiplicity of tasks that need to be performed on farms – such as shearing and dealing with animal health issues. Flystrike, toxo and other animal welfare issues are now coming to the fore, McIvor adds. He says access and repaired infrastructure is needed to get shearers to farms. He acknowledges that work is being done to erect Bailey bridges to get access for light vehicles such as utes, but says access for large trucks is critical.

“We rapidly need to get the right people with the right machinery into the right places.”

He says while feed covers on the East Coast are good at the moment, this is the time of the year when farmers start to destock their farms and plan for the winter. McIvor says NZ prides itself as being a first world country and one of the pillars of that is having quality, resilient road access, power and communications.

“My message to government is, if you are serious about all New Zealanders, then you need to invest in infrastructure that is resilient and reliable,” he told Rural News. “Because for too long it has been out of sight and out of mind.”

Filthy Forestry

McIvor says he's shocked by the damage caused by forestry slash throughout the East Coast.

He says people have lost their homes because of slash-laden flooding. McIvor says the slash issue is a disgrace and the damage it had caused to roads, bridges, houses, farms, orchards and people is unacceptable.

He has accused the Government of essentially turning a blind eye to the slash problems and metaphorically sweeping the issue under the carpet.

McIvor has seen first-hand the devastation caused by forestry slash. He's seen the beautiful pastures at Tolaga Bay and other areas north of Gisborne covered in forestry debris, which has knocked out fences, bridges and farm buildings. With the slash has come silt, which will be time consuming and costly to restore.

Beef + Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor says he's shocked by the damage caused by forestry slash throughout the East Coast. Photo Credit: New Zealand Defence Force.

"One farmer told me it would cost at least $3,000 a hectare to restore his pasture," he told Rural News. "Another told me he'd recently bought a high value property growing high value crops, with all the necessary infrastructure, and that this has all been wiped out. He's not sure when he can get back in business."

McIvor says in the future things must change and insists the Ministerial Inquiry must prevent this from ever happening again.

People First

McIvor says B+LNZ's main role has been gathering information about the devastation and passing this onto government to build a case for special assistance.

He told Rural News that this hasn't been easy because many farms and communities are still isolated. B+LNZ are supporting communities by bringing people together to give each other mutual support.

McIvor says everyone responds differently to these situations, with some taking time to get ove the shock of the disaster, while others are making lists to start the repair work.

"Others are starting to look at their farm system and saying, if there are going to be more weather events like this, how might they build farming systems that better manage the risk," he explains. "Things like buying a generator or a Starlink phone."

Sam McIvor says there is also emphasis on strengthening community hubs.

Prioritise Roads

Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says the Government must make rural roads a priority.

"The Government needs to rapidly re-prioritise its road funding policies and ensure that people in rural areas are not left stranded for weeks on end," he says. "Some of the roads are not fit for purpose."

Hoggard says if people in rural areas don't have options to get to and from their properties, it becomes a very tricky situation.