Floods reap terrible toll

By LIAM DANN primary industries editor

Flooding in the lower North Island will reap a terrible toll on farmers who are already facing falling incomes because of the high dollar.

The dairy industry is the worst affected. More than 10 million litres of milk has been dumped.

Fonterra has said it would pay farmers for all the milk it has been unable to collect.

The total cost to the company was likely to be about $5 million, said director of operations Max Parkin.

That represented about half a cent of the annual payout to farmers.

Those numbers were minor in comparison to the total cost dairy farmers would face due to stock losses, pasture loss and replacement of fences and other farm infrastructure, Parkin said.

"Not since the Edgecumbe earthquake [in 1987] has our industry been affected so much by one single event," he said. "It's pretty serious."

Federated Farmers president Tom Lambie said total flood damage could top early estimates of $100 million.

Stock losses alone were expected to run into the thousands, with a typical cow worth from $800 to $1000, Lambie said.

Fonterra could not collect any milk from the region for 48 hours.

It has now resumed collection in some areas but has struggled to process the milk because of flood damage to other infrastructure.

"Due to a rail problem we were unable to move all the milk to Hawera for processing," Parkin said. "We are also unable to use the Pahiatua plant because of gas line problems."

Fonterra's Longburn factory, which had been closed for maintenance, is now up and running to cover the crisis.

Milk collection was unlikely to be back to normal until at least Saturday, Parkin said.

"But there is more rain predicted so we may not be over the hump yet."

Federated Farmers vice-president Charlie Pedersen, who is based in the Manawatu, has seen the worst damage first hand.

"This was a one in 100 year event so there was not much you could compare it to," he said. "The script's being written as we go."

The most serious damage was at Motua near Foxton where 5000 dairy cows were evacuated along with their owners, he said. Those farms were still flooded.

While there were likely to be significant stock losses it now looked like they would be smaller than first feared,

"At first whole herds, one of 500 cows, appeared to have gone," Pedersen said.

Most of those missing animals had now been found - having somehow managed to float to higher ground.

"Everyone here has huge admiration for the ability of cows to swim," he said.

In Wanganui sheep and cattle farmers were likely to be hit hard, Pedersen said.

"We have anecdotes of serious flooding in that area but at this stage we don't have phone contact."

Once flood waters subsided all the animals in the region would have to be evacuated to other areas to feed while pasture was re-sown.

Many farmers in Wanganui were still recovering from a serious drought last year.

"If you can't cope with the weather then you better think about another profession," Pedersen said.

Grains council chairman Hugh Ritchie said arable crops in the Manawatu would have been devastated.

Harvest had either begun or was due to begin for wheat, maize, corn and barley.

Details of the damage were still sketchy as most grain farmers also had stock which needed to be looked after first, he said.

There were also reports that the pea harvest in the Wairarapa had been wiped out, he said.

Despite the devastation all is not lost for this year's Martinborough wine vintage.

Strat Canning, winemaker at the Margrain Vineyard, said the grapes still had enough time to dry out before harvest. The rain was not ideal but the timing could have been a lot worse.