Rain recovery
Released 27 Dec 2010
By John Scrimgeour, Provincial President, Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty
Christmas came early for the delighted farmers in the Bay of Plenty with a good drop of rain to replenish parched pastures. Farmers in some of the driest parts of the country similarly received relief, including Northland, North Auckland, the Waikato region, Taranaki and the Ruapehu district where drought conditions had been officially declared.
I heard a radio report that while farmers wanted more rain, townies wanted it to stop. This suggests townies have a limited understanding of rural needs and the extent to which the export revenues generated by the rural economy flow through to the rest of the economy.
Out on the farms we had been desperate for rain to revive grass growth to feed our stock. Our region had fared only marginally better than the officially declared drought areas. The past few years have been challenging, because of dry summers, and the rural support trust this summer had been on the verge of applying to the Government for the area to be declared a drought area too.
The rainfall that came was welcomed because it started gently, softening the surface and soaking into the ground beneath. The run-off was minimal. Pastures that had been starting to burn off rapidly turned green again with just a few days of rain.
But that's a short-term effect. The dry patch hit us early in the summer and we will need more rain over the next few weeks. Moreover, while nobody in our region missed out, some of the dry coastal areas didn't get as much as others.
The Rural Support Trust accordingly is monitoring the situation and has put its application for drought relief on hold. Taranaki, which had made an application to be included among the drought areas, has put its bid on hold too.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) made no changes to the drought zones, despite the pre-Christmas rainfall in those areas. MAF said the rain that had fallen was not enough to review the drought declarations. It is keeping a close watch on how pastures and crops respond to the rain they received.
