Christchurch earthquake: Farmers up in arms

Agriculture Minister David Carter said initial concerns had been about animal welfare. Photo / Christine Cornege

The Government came under pressure last night from farmers unhappy that earthquake damage to their farms is not covered by insurance.

Farmers at a packed meeting in Darfield asked Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Minister for Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee for a commitment to look into the issue.

Several said they had fissures in their land which needed repairing that were not covered by insurance and posed a danger to stock.

Mr English said there was plenty of insurance capacity as a whole but individually some people were discovering they were not as well covered as they thought they were.