Getting Through: Farmstrong launch book and website with tools and tales of resilience

• Hawke’s Bay farmers and growers shared their experiences of 2023’s severe weather through the new book and website Getting Through.
• The project is supported by Health NZ, Ministry for Primary Industries and Rural Support Trust and aims to promote wellbeing and provide recovery resources.
• Minister Matt Doocey emphasised the importance of community support and resilience strategies for farmers facing challenges.

Hawke’s Bay farmers and growers have collated severe weather events of 2023 as part of a book and website by Farmstrong to support others in recovery.

More than 30 producers and industry leaders across the country were interviewed for the book and accompanying website titled Getting Through, which launched in Wellington on Thursday.

Featured in the book are Patoka farmers Junior Tualago and Patrick Crawshaw, Puketapu growers Brydon Nisbet and Craig and Gill Wilson, Twyford’s Stewart Burns, Harry Gaddum from Mangatahi, Gareth Holder of Pakowhai and East Coast Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Jonathan Bell.

Farmstrong programme director Gerard Vaughan said there was a wealth of knowledge that farmers and growers can tap into and use as a roadmap to move forward.

“The main takeaway from these resources is a hopeful one. As awful as these events are, farmers and growers do find a way through.”

Getting Through was supported by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora and Rural Support Trust.

Funding of $345,000 from Health NZ through the North Island Weather Events Response and Recovery package, was allocated to Farmstrong to promote wellbeing support and provide free resources to rural families and communities.

Minister for Mental Health and ACC Hon Matt Doocey was at the launch and said adverse weather events are an increasingly common reality for farmers and growers.

“It’s vital that people know that they’re not alone and they can get through this and come out the other side stronger.”

Doocey said compiling real experiences alongside professional psychological advice would help farmers and growers build strategies and resilience.

ACC’s injury and prevention workplace manager Paula Wood said it was important to acknowledge that it had been “an extraordinary and stressful time for farmers in these regions”.

In 2022, ACC accepted over 22,630 farming-related injury claims, which cost $96 million to help people recover.

An ACC-funded study for Farmstrong shows 58% of injured farmers linked their injuries to stress associated with farm work. A quarter of them said it was a major factor.

Hawke’s Bay farmer and grower on sharing their experience

Harry Gaddum, a deer farmer from Mangatahi, was one to share his story with Farmstrong and said it was difficult to talk about the destruction the property suffered.

“You always want to give the best show of the farm and when it’s absolutely torn to pieces you don’t feel great.”

Harry Gaddum said he had used some of the tools in the book for a proactive approach to farming. Photo / Mark Coote for Farmstrong.

Gaddum hoped the book and website would show that there are ways to cope with an adverse weather event and the accompanying mental and physical health challenges.

“There are ways to cope with it before it takes you down a dark path so you have to make sure (you are) targeting the right ways to get yourself in a good headspace.”

He said it would be useful as farmers and growers approached a dry summer for support tactics and coping strategies.

He said he used some of the tools included in the book during his day-to-day operations since Cyclone Gabrielle.

“You can be at the top of the hill and look at all the positives - even though it’s tough.”

Brydon Nisbet removing flood debris from an apple tree on Moteo Pa Rd, Puketapu. Photo / Warren Buckland

Puketapu orchardist and Hawke’s Bay Fruit Growers Association president Brydon Nisbet also took time to share his story of destruction with Farmstrong in the hope of reinforcing industry connectivity.

Nisbet said his role with the Fruit Growers Association gave him an outlet and another focus away from the devastation at his orchards.

“Not only did I have my own issues to deal with, I had to lead the industry in looking forward and trying to bring some hope.”

He said a big part of his role was to connect with growers and mitigate any isolation, which he believed the Getting Through resources would encourage.

“Connect with your neighbours, connect with your friends, connect with family and keep talking and discussing, don’t isolate yourself.”

He said he witnessed orchardists at a crossroads of whether they should give up for good or continue in the industry given everything they had lost.

“That was a huge weight for a lot of people to carry and a lot of guilt that they are being robbed - or they have been robbed - of a legacy of farming and growing.”

He said the book would provide hope and give key strategies for managing internal feelings, especially for those who “bottled things in”.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.