Federated Farmers delivers food baskets

Federated Farmers, along with the Rural Support Trusts, Alliance Group, FMG, PGG Wrightson and CRT delivered about 800 food baskets today to Southlanders affected by the spring snow.

“The parcels are only a small gesture, but they’re something positive and at a time like this every little bit helps,” says Rod Pemberton, Federated Farmers Southland provincial president.

“It’s so important when adverse events hit that everyone pulls together and so we’re trying to let the people of Southland know that Federated Farmers, agribusinesses and the rural community are there to help them.

“So we also dropped a couple of information sheets with the parcels to let the recipients know that Federated Farmers is working with the Rural Support Trust to try to coordinate assistance.

“What we’re trying to do now is ascertain where the need is, so that we can put our resources to good use. In order to do this, we’ve circulated a questionnaire to farmers asking what the key issues they need help with are.

“Questions included the likes of, do you need further labour?, what are the biggest challenges you will be facing over the next weeks? and what can be done to assist you?

“Although it’s not an issue that anyone really wants to deal with, we’re also offering information on how to prevent disease spreading as a result of stock deaths.

“The response to the food parcels has been very positive, the only complaints have been from stoic Southlanders who, despite working non-stop for nearly two weeks to look after their stock, feel that they don’t deserve them. We’re now looking forward to delivering similar food packages to the heavily affected areas of Otago later in the week,”

“One thing we are learning is that the full brunt of the storm will be felt by farmers for a long time. Farmers are in for an extensive battle to rebuild their businesses after this, and we’re in for the long haul too,” Mr Pemberton concluded.