With winter just around the corner the Hawke's Bay Regional Council is urging landowners to get online now and order their supplies of poplar and willow poles.
Landowners plant poplar and willow poles during winter to improve the stability of hillsides, river and stream edges, provide shelterbelts and livestock shade.
Interviews with farmers affected by the major Hawke's Bay storm in 2011 highlighted damage and losses that can occur as a result of serious weather events.
Average recovery costs from that event were $207,000 per farm. This included loss of grazing after the storm, stock deaths, and infrastructure repairs.
Most farmers surveyed who had sites planted in forest or space-planted poplars and willows rated the soil conservation provided by these plantings as excellent or good.