Farmers struggling with drought encouraged to get in touch with their local Rural Support Trust and to apply for a rural assistance payment if they need it.
The government has extended financial support to drought-impacted farmers across the North Island and the upper South Island.
The support in the form of rural assistance payments will help farmers with living costs and will be made available from April 28 and cover 27 districts across the country.
Farmers in Northland, Waikato, Taranaki, Horizons (Manawatū-Whanganui, including Tararua), and the Top of the South Island (Marlborough, Tasman and Nelson City) regional council areas can apply for the payments.
Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston said they want to help eligible farmers whose income has been severely affected by drought conditions.
“These rural assistance payments are being made available until October 28, 2025, when farmer incomes are expected to lift.”
While many areas have received welcome rain over the past month, other places received only light rainfall.
In Waikato, the regional council’s seven-day rainfall data varied from 526mm south of Coromandel to 19.5mm north of Tahuna, 11mm at Te Awamutu, 7.5mm east of Otorohanga and 44.5mm at Te Kūiti.
Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes said the rain was gratefully received.
“Fortunately, the ground and air temperature are still warm, so we are starting to see some growth.”
But the rain was very patchy. He received 15mm whereas the Waihou River, just 4km away, was flooded – and some areas are still seriously dry.
The Waikato and South Auckland Primary Industry Adverse Event Cluster core group is still meeting every two weeks to monitor the situation and the Rural Support Trust still has quite a high workload, he said.
It is a similar situation further south in Taranaki.
“We definitely got rain, but some farms are still in deficit,” the region’s Federated Farmers president, Leedom Gibbs, said.
South coastal Taranaki is still very dry with as much as 300mm needed in that district, she said.
Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson encouraged farmers struggling with the drought to get in touch with their local Rural Support Trust to find out what help is available and to apply for a rural assistance payment if they need it.
“Droughts often have a sting in the tail with the cold, tough winter months still to come. We know how hard it can be to recover from a drought, and we are here to support farmers through it.”
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