THE Minister of Agriculture, Jim Sutton, spent yesterday visiting farms in South Wairarapa.
He wanted to see for himself the effects the two floods had had on farmers and their businesses and to be able to assess, first hand, the ravages the two spells of bad weather had dealt.
He said he
had invited himself to come and look at the disaster.
"The farmers here have had a terrible kicking from the weather," Mr Sutton said.
"There wasn't just the one flood but two and that tested everyone's mettle. It was a very difficult situation for everybody.
"It was more than just one big hit, it was a massive one-two punch.
"I was lucky to meet some outstanding members of the farming community, they were great people. It made a big impact on me. I was also pleased to see the Government's support packages were working.
"The morale of farmers was quite good but I was meeting the leaders of the community. Federated Farmers has done a great job, as has MAF. The community has also put its best foot forward and supported its own.
"It is really a great credit to Wairarapa, to the community," Mr Sutton said.
The Minister was accompanied by officials from MAF, Bruce Watkins, the agricultural recovery facilitator, acting president of Wairarapa Federated Farmers Ross Macklin and federation policy analyst Joe Taylor.
