I know of a summer-dry hill country couple in the Mangaone River Catchment who face a price tag of more than $400,000 to reinstate their 370ha property. This includes more than $130k alone in repairing fences, $50k replacing one half of the farm’s stock drinking water supply, and over $52k so far to reinstate tracks and culverts, rebuild dams and remove slips.
Insurance cover for this farm totalled about $100,000. These people were proactive from the outset in seeking external funding opportunities, a pursuit that culminated in $30k or a mere 10 per cent of their total uninsurable losses. This leaves close to $300k of repair work they need to fund, which means they are doing only what is critical, such as temporary fencing repairs (because not doing so leads to more and more financial losses). Serious consideration is being given to the long-term availability of their farming model, and partially or even fully planting the land in pine trees is being investigated.
The issues facing the region’s farmers extend beyond Cyclone Gabrielle, the pressures are all around them. Take predominantly sheep farms, for example. Last year lambs were fetching $100-$120 a head, this year prices have dropped to $60-$70/head, which represents a 40-50 per cent decrease. It continues to cost farmers more to shear sheep than they could ever make back from the wool, but not doing so poses an animal health issue, so it is not a cost they can cut.
Worm resistance is rife, and ground moisture has been severely low, albeit helped somewhat by the recent rain.
The Hawke’s Bay Farming for Resilience Report released by MPI indicated pasture growth for April was down 10 per cent on average as farms approached winter. The same report pointed out the predicted weighted average farm loss in Hawke’s Bay is sitting at $23.70/ha. While revenue is down in almost every area, inflation continues to hit the sector hard, with costs such as interest rates, fertiliser, fuel and wages continuously soaring.
The region’s pastoral sector is more productive than ever, yet is going backwards.
The profitability outlook for many is grim. The farmers I am talking to are doing all the right things. They aren’t new to the challenges of weather, nor are they new to the uphill battle of rising costs and weak farmgate prices. But it’s the unexpected burden of cost brought about by Cyclone Gabrielle, on top of these factors, that is pushing farms to their limit.
It is rough out there and these farmers need support. They are trying to do the right thing by adapting their business models wherever they can, but this is simply not enough in more cases than I can count.
There are issues at play that only money can solve, such as paying for digger drivers and fencers. If any financial assistance is available, be it from local or central government, now is the time to direct this to our sheep and beef farmers. We are talking about hard-working Kiwi farmers — important contributors to our Hawke’s Bay export-driven economy.
Right now, the future outlook of our region’s pastoral farms is at stake, and the bottom line is that financial support is critical to turning this around.
