"We need to get behind our farmers and support them as they face further challenges in coming months, and we will be talking to the wider community about their support to see if we can build the drought relief fund up to $2m."
The fund will pay for feed to be shipped from the South Island and the Rural Advisory Group and Rural Support Trust will work closely with feed co-ordinators to ensure feed gets to the farms where it is most needed.
The Hastings Rural Community Board recommended council contribute to the fund.
Board chair Nick Dawson said this year's drought in Hawke's Bay was unprecedented, not only in its severity but also the complications and isolation Covid-19 had created for farmers.
"We are seeing immense pressure on our rural community with little or no stock feed, dams drying out and no substantial rain forecast," Dawson said.
"This has become an emergency event and the regional fund will be set up to source, transport and allocate stock feed where required.
"Hawke's Bay relies on its rural sectors' prosperity and now more than ever primary producers are called upon for export dollars. It will be comforting for the rural community to know we are pulling together and our resilience will come through again."
Farmer and former Hastings Rural Community Board chairman Peter Kay said that while the Covid-19 lockdown hadn't helped, the situation was all about the drought for farmers.
Kay said initiatives such as the Mayoral Drought Relief Fund and rural support groups were invaluable.
"This is not only from a monetary and feed source point of view, but mostly as a morale booster for not just the farmers but also their wives and partners who have to bear the brunt of these effects on a domestic level," he said.
"They need recognition for what they are doing as well."
