Repairs and maintenance are part of life when you run a property that covers hundreds of hectares.

But for farmer Wendy Whelan, a $50,000 damage bill after the Boxing Day 2023 flood was a financial hit she was not expecting.

With no government disaster relief funding earmarked for farm properties, Gippsland dairy farmer Ms Whelan said she had no choice but to wear the costs.

The lack of relief for agriculture and businesses — while uninsured home owners can claim for damage — has prompted calls for the disaster support system to be overhauled.

No money for businesses, farms

The Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) jointly funded by federal and state governments is the primary recovery finance mechanism, according to MP for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien.

He said the system needed to be made more “nimble” so it could react in real-time to community needs.

“It highlights a failure in the system, in that there’s a threshold of the number of farmers that need to be impacted by a particular event,” Mr O’Brien said.

Damian and Angela Stock were also hit by the Boxing Day flood.

They were called home by a neighbour who said their small beef farm was going under water.

But it was not the only disaster they experienced this summer.

“From early December to mid-January we had three floods,” said Mr Stock, who farms in hill country about 25 kilometres inland from Woodside Beach.

“December 26 wiped out kilometres of fencing, destroyed paddocks that were reserved for fodder production … [and they] moved cows from paddock to paddock and out into the adjoining state forest.

Many elements of agricultural operations, such as fencing, cannot be insured.

The February 13 storm that devastated the Gippsland town of Mirboo North wiped out Gino Castellano and Karen Haw’s Mirboo North plant nursery.

They said they will be out of business until they can regrow their stock.

“It’s just destroyed everything,” Mr Castellano said.

The business has not qualified for prolonged power outage payments because they were reconnected just hours before the seven-day eligibility cut off, Mr Castellano said.

Lack of emergency relief

More than $20 million from the DRFA has been allocated for the December to mid-January floods and storms that pummelled Victoria.

Split between 28 local governments, each council will get less than $1 million to cover both private clean-up and community facility recovery.

“The recently announced Clean-up Program will provide eligible residents with access to no-cost property assessments, make-safe, demolition, and removal of hazardous debris where necessary,” a spokesperson for lead relief agency Emergency Recovery Victoria (ERV) told the ABC in a statement.

The ABC approached the Premier’s office with questions relating to eligibility criteria and received a response from ERV.

The spokesperson said the Recovery Support Program was also available to help with a range of information, from mental health and wellbeing to business and legal advice.

But businesses and farmers will not receive any of the money earmarked for clean-up, according to Mr O’Brien.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has called for donations to assist disaster-affected agribusinesses, as they say not enough assistance is coming from governments.

VFF vice president Danyel Cucinotta said the disaster recognition process was “a great mystery”.

“We have very little understanding on how the government and departments decide what becomes a disaster … and what regions get that assistance,” Ms Cucinotta said.

“It’s actually the communities who pick back up. It’s the communities who donate time, resourcing, they donate money.

“The government grants have a long way to go before they sustain food security in this country.”