Farmers from around the world are banding together to support their peers in the cyclone-affected East Coast region.

A page has been established to raise money for the region’s agricultural sector, which was devastated during Cyclone Gabrielle two weeks ago.

The Give-a-Little page has been set up by global AgriTech company Te Pari – based in Oamaru – with funds going directly to Rural Support Trust, for distribution.

Rural Support Trust is a charity that provides on-the-ground support and assistance to rural communities nationwide, through regional trusts.

East Coast Rural Support Trust chairperson Clint Worthington says 100% of donations will go to impacted communities.

“These donations won't just go towards the next month or two, but will be helping farmers set up for the long-term as well,” Worthington says. “The process of recovery from an adverse event like this, is in three stages – response and ensuring safety during the first few weeks; recovery, which can take three to four months, and then rebuilding. There is massive damage, and it will take years to recover from, so we need to have that long-term focus.”

Te Pari marketing manager Corban Blampied, who is coordinating the fundraising effort, travelled to the region last week to speak with farmers.

“The devastation was much worse than we expected,” he says. “The clean-up will be nearly insurmountable and local farmers will be hurting for a very long time. We’re asking farmers and people in other rural communities from around the world to band together and offer these guys some financial support to help get the sector moving again.”

Blampied adds that many Hawke’s Bay farmers share similar stories of devastation.

“It really is out of this world,” he says. “The cyclone has affected produce, livestock and the NZ agricultural industry as a whole. While the community is resilient, they do need support, especially during this rebuilding process.”

Rissington Cattle Company fifth-generation farmer Daniel Absolom – who runs a large-scale seed and breeding bulls farm – says they have limited road access after the bridge connecting them to town was washed out.

“We've been offered a lot of farmer support from other farmers, but we have really much been on our own,” Absolom says. “For now, we're just focused on getting families safe and happy and in their houses with power, food, water and fuel in another weeks' time we're going to need people supporting with shovels.”

Martin Pastoral farm manager Dave Martin – who runs a 2200-hectare sheep, beef and crop farm in Wairoa – says they had only just recovered from the damage after the March 2022 floods, when cyclones Hale and Gabrielle hit.

“Eleven months ago, we were devastated by the damage and destruction from the last floods and now we're back to square one. Only, this time it's worse than it was last year,” Martin says. “We weren’t expecting a flood of this proportion, let alone thinking that we could have a flood bigger than Cyclone Bola.”

It is understood Cyclone Gabrielle’s economic costs surpasses that of Cyclone Bola in 1988, with cost estimates reported to be in the billions. Cyclone Bola’s horticulture and farming losses amounted to $90 million (equivalent to $210 million in 2023) with the Government’s cyclone repair bill more than $111 million ($260 million).

Repair costs from Cyclone Gabrielle are expected to exceed $13 billion.

Te Pari has instigated successful crowdfunding campaigns before, having raised more than $15,000 for a Victorian farmer after the 2019 Australian bushfires.

This is the second consecutive year that flooding has destroyed ready-to-harvest crops in the Hawke’s Bay.

Farm manager Dave Martin adds: “Contractors will do the best they can to try to see what can still be harvested, but obviously the corn cobs will have silt all through them, so it remains to be seen if this is able to be processed.”

The loss extends to the crops already prepared and stored before the floods.

“Our squash was already picked before the cyclone hit, but because of the power outages in Gisborne, it sat in crates for 10 days. So now we’re throwing that crop out,” Martin adds. “It is just devastating.”

Imagery
Click here to download imagery and video footage from the affected farmers.
The video (12 minutes long) contains b-roll and aerial footage, plus interviews with local farmers Dave Martin, Mark Mitchell and Daniel Absolom and shows the scale of the devastation, and personal accounts from the farmers.

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