“Farmers aren’t interested in a handout – they want to know if the government cares and responds and we are doing as much as we can through a tough time,” says Guy.
It has started raining in most places “but we are going to feel the effects of the drought for quite some time”.
“Treasury is forecasting about 0.7% of GDP which is between $ 1 billion to $2 billion. But it’s hard to get an accurate measure because it will go across seasons in terms of people not mating their hoggets and some cows are skinnier than normal and hard to get back into calf.”
Support packages such as Rural Support Trust assistance and rural assistance payments will run through until the end of September.
“The focus will now be on the winter and whether it stays mild enough to get grass growth through autumn before it gets really cold. The advance payment from Fonterra helped, the banks have been pretty reasonable and the IRD has been playing its part as well with flexibility for taxation returns.
“So there are still some areas without significant rain – and that’s Taihape through to Napier on the Gentle Annie and down to Hawke’s Bay. And Southland – even though they were never declared in drought, they are pretty dry as well.”
Guy says it’s a watching brief and he gets regular updates from up and down the country.
“But what I would say is that urban New Zealand really got the fact that rural communities were hurting this summer. That was significant in urban people realising that the powerhouse of the economy is pastoral based.”
